Natural history / a novel / Carlos Fonseca ; translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell.
"Just before the dawn of the new millennium, a curator at a New Jersey museum of natural history receives an unusual invitation from a celebrated fashion designer. She shares the curator's fascination with the hidden forms of the animal kingdom -- with camouflage and subterfuge -- and she proposes that they collaborate on an exhibition, the form of which itself remains largely obscure, even as they enter into a strange relationship marked by evasion and elision. Seven years later, after the death of the designer, the curator recovers the archive of their never-completed project. During a long night of insomnia, he finds within the archive a series of clues to the true story of the designer's family, a mind-bending puzzle that winds from Haifa, Israel, to bohemian 1970s New York to the Latin American jungle. On the way, he discovers a cast of characters whose own fixations interrogate the unstable frontiers between art, science, politics, and religion: an aging photographer, living nearly alone in an abandoned mining town where subterranean fires rage without end, who creates models of ruined cities; a former model turned conceptual artist -- and a defendant in a trial over the very nature and purpose of art; a young indigenous boy who has received a vision of the end of the world. Reality is a curtain, as the curator realizes, and to draw it back is to reveal the theater of obsession. Natural History is the portrait of a world trapped between faith and irony, between tragedy and farce." -- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780374216306
- ISBN: 0374216304
- Physical Description: 303 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- Edition: First American edition
- Publisher: New York, NY : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020.
- Copyright: ©2020
Content descriptions
- General Note:
- "Originally published in Spanish in 2017 by Anagrama, Spain, as Museo animal"--Title page verso.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Museum exhibits > Fiction.
Museum curators > Fiction.
Photographers > Fiction.
Artists > Fiction.
Visions > Fiction. - Genre:
- Fiction.
Novels.
Available copies
- 7 of 7 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Madison County Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 7 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mars Hill Library | FIC FON (Text) | 30229101177995 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Accessibility Features
| LDR | 03116nam a2200421Ii 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | 12287708 | ||
| 003 | CARDINAL | ||
| 005 | 20201110191746.0 | ||
| 008 | 200420t20202020nyua e 000 f eng d | ||
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| 020 | . | ‡a9780374216306 ‡q(hardcover) | |
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| 245 | 1 | 0. | ‡aNatural history / ‡ba novel / ‡cCarlos Fonseca ; translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell. |
| 250 | . | ‡aFirst American edition | |
| 264 | 1. | ‡aNew York, NY : ‡bFarrar, Straus and Giroux, ‡c2020. | |
| 264 | 4. | ‡c©2020 | |
| 300 | . | ‡a303 pages : ‡billustrations ; ‡c23 cm | |
| 336 | . | ‡atext ‡btxt ‡2rdacontent | |
| 337 | . | ‡aunmediated ‡bn ‡2rdamedia | |
| 338 | . | ‡avolume ‡bnc ‡2rdacarrier | |
| 500 | . | ‡a"Originally published in Spanish in 2017 by Anagrama, Spain, as Museo animal"--Title page verso. | |
| 520 | . | ‡a"Just before the dawn of the new millennium, a curator at a New Jersey museum of natural history receives an unusual invitation from a celebrated fashion designer. She shares the curator's fascination with the hidden forms of the animal kingdom -- with camouflage and subterfuge -- and she proposes that they collaborate on an exhibition, the form of which itself remains largely obscure, even as they enter into a strange relationship marked by evasion and elision. Seven years later, after the death of the designer, the curator recovers the archive of their never-completed project. During a long night of insomnia, he finds within the archive a series of clues to the true story of the designer's family, a mind-bending puzzle that winds from Haifa, Israel, to bohemian 1970s New York to the Latin American jungle. On the way, he discovers a cast of characters whose own fixations interrogate the unstable frontiers between art, science, politics, and religion: an aging photographer, living nearly alone in an abandoned mining town where subterranean fires rage without end, who creates models of ruined cities; a former model turned conceptual artist -- and a defendant in a trial over the very nature and purpose of art; a young indigenous boy who has received a vision of the end of the world. Reality is a curtain, as the curator realizes, and to draw it back is to reveal the theater of obsession. Natural History is the portrait of a world trapped between faith and irony, between tragedy and farce." -- ‡cProvided by publisher. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aMuseum exhibits ‡vFiction. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aMuseum curators ‡vFiction. ‡0(CARDINAL)345357 | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aPhotographers ‡vFiction. ‡0(CARDINAL)343633 | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aArtists ‡vFiction. ‡0(CARDINAL)301124 | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aVisions ‡vFiction. ‡0(CARDINAL)457070 | |
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| 655 | 7. | ‡aNovels. ‡2lcgft ‡0(CARDINAL)336215 | |
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| 902 | . | ‡aMARCIVE 202012 | |
| 902 | . | ‡aMARCIVE 202106 | |
| 901 | . | ‡a12287708 ‡bCARDINAL ‡c12287708 ‡tbiblio ‡sSystem Local | |
