The Alteration

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure
Cover of the book The Alteration by Kingsley Amis, New York Review Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kingsley Amis ISBN: 9781590176375
Publisher: New York Review Books Publication: May 7, 2013
Imprint: NYRB Classics Language: English
Author: Kingsley Amis
ISBN: 9781590176375
Publisher: New York Review Books
Publication: May 7, 2013
Imprint: NYRB Classics
Language: English

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.

How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.

The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.

How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.

The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.

More books from New York Review Books

Cover of the book Black Sun by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Tyrant Banderas by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book The Mangan Inheritance by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Jakob von Gunten by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Essayism by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book A Little Primer of Tu Fu by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Iza's Ballad by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Seacrow Island by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Take a Girl Like You by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Love's Work by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book The Moth Snowstorm by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book On the Abolition of All Political Parties by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Bresson on Bresson: Interviews, 1943-1983 by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Ice Trilogy by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book The Doorman's Repose by Kingsley Amis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy