The Beat of the Pendulum

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title The Beat of the Pendulum
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Catherine Chidgey
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:494
Category/GenreModern and contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
ISBN/Barcode 9781776561704
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Te Herenga Waka University Press
Imprint Victoria University Press
Publication Date 9 November 2017
Publication Country New Zealand

Description

From the author of the acclaimed The Wish Child comes something unexpected and fearless: a found novel. The Beat of the Pendulum is the result of one year in which Chidgey drew upon the language she encountered on a daily basis, such as news stories, radio broadcasts, emails, social media, street signs, TV, and many conversations. As Chidgey filters and shapes the linguistic chaos of her recordings, a set of characters emerge - her family, including her young daughter, and her husband, mother and sister, her friends, and an extended family formed through surrogacy and donation. In her chronicling of moments of loveliness, strangeness, comedy and poetry and sorrow, Chidgey plays with the nature of time and its passing. The Beat of the Pendulum is also an exploration of human memory - how we acquire it, and how we lose it. This bravely experimental and immersive work draws us into the detail, reverberation and transience of a year in a life.