The Divine Child (novel)

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The Divine Child
The Divine Child.jpg
Author Pascal Bruckner
Original titleLe Divin enfant
Translator Joachim Neugroschel
LanguageFrench
Publisher Éditions du Seuil
Publication date
1992
Publication placeFrance
Published in English
1994
Pages243
ISBN 9782020132152

The Divine Child (French : Le Divin enfant) is a 1992 novel by the French writer Pascal Bruckner. It tells the story of twins who are educated while still in their mother's uterus and one of them ends up refusing to be born; he struggles with his mother and with God and eventually becomes a celebrity while still unborn. The book was published in English in 1994, translated by Joachim Neugroschel. [1]

Reception

Stewart M. Lindh wrote in Los Angeles Times , "What Pascal Bruckner, one of France's finest contemporary novelists, does in The Divine Child is to take us on a Candide-like journey into the world of neonatology". Lindh called the novel "no mere Gaelic version of Look Who's Talking , but a fierce satire of science gone wild". [2]

Kirkus Reviews called the novel "A would-be Rabelaisian novel from French writer Bruckner (Evil Angels, 1987), who has an interesting idea -- defy death by refusing to be born -- but smothers it with gratuitously explicit sex, grotesque physical details, and old-hat intellectualism. ... One of those too-clever novels where the writer is more intent on strutting his stuff than telling a convincing tale." [3]

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References

  1. The divine child : a novel of prenatal rebellion. OCLC   30477305 . Retrieved 2015-08-02 via WorldCat.
  2. Lindh, Stewart M. (1995-01-19). "A Country Swept Away by a Baby Who Refuses to Be Born". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2015-08-02.
  3. "The Divine Child". Kirkus Reviews . 1994-11-07. Retrieved 2015-08-02.