Caracole - (Vintage International) by Edmund White (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In a world where country gentry reside in decadent mansions and intellectuals indulge in passionate affairs, one young man's journey unfolds

"A seduction through language, a masque without masks, Caracole brings back to startling life a dormant strain in serious American writing: the idea of the romantic."--Cynthia Ozick

In French caracole means "prancing"; in English, "caper." Both words perfectly describe this high-spirited erotic adventure. In Caracole, White invents an entire world where country gentry languish in decaying mansions and foppish intellectuals exchange lovers and gossip in an occupied city that resembles both Paris under the Nazis and 1980s New York. To that city comes Gabriel, an awkward boy from the provinces whose social naïveté and sexual ardor make him endlessly attractive to a variety of patrons and paramours.

From the Back Cover

In French caracole means "prancing"; in English, "caper". Both words perfectly describe this high-spirited erotic adventure by a writer whose novels possess the athletic grace of grand ballet. In Caracole, Edmund White invents an entire world where country gentry languish in decaying mansions and foppish intellectuals exchange lovers and gossip in an occupied city that resembles both Paris under the Nazis and 1980s New York. To that city comes Gabriel, an awkward boy from the provinces whose social naivete and sexual ardor make him endlessly attractive to a variety of patrons and paramours. Together with his bewitching lover, Angelica, Gabriel navigates a glittering labyrinth of power and betrayal, snobbery and desire, in a novel that suggests a pas de deux between Nabokov and Balzac.

About the Author

Edmund White was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1940. His fiction includes the autobiographical trilogy A Boy's Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, and The Farewell Symphony, as well as Caracole, Forgetting Elena, Nocturnes for the King of Naples, and Skinned Alive, a collection of short stories. He is also the author of a highly acclaimed biography of Jean Genet, a short study of Proust, a travel book about gay America--States of Desire--and Our Paris. He is an officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and teaches at Princeton University. He lives in New York City.