The Gates of Ivory

Novel by Margaret Drabble

First edition (publ. Viking)

The Gates of Ivory is a 1991 novel by novelist Margaret Drabble.[1] The novel is the third in a series of novels, following The Radiant Way and A Natural Curiosity. The novel continues the stories of several middle aged intellectuals introduced in the last two novels.[2] The novel also introduces a new character, Stephen Cox who is loosely based on J.G. Farrell.[3]

Style

The novel includes metafiction reflecting on the choices Drabble made while writing the novel.[2] The novel also includes a bibliography referencing a number of works which provide background and connections for the rest of the novel.[4]

The novel's narratives that rotate between both the present and flashbacks narratives from each of the main characters.[2] The novel also introduces characters from The Needle's Eye.[2]

Reviews

New York Times reviewer Linda Simon was disappointed with the novel, writing "intellectually stimulating and, as we might expect from Ms. Drabble, very smart. But ideas do not make a novel. Characters do."[2] Publishers Weekly describes the novel as "command[ing] awe even as [Drabble's] subject matter rouses immeasurable stores of pity and terror."[5]

References

  1. ^ Sutherland, John (5 December 1991). "Drabble's Progress". London Review of Books. p. 18. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e Simon, Linda (10 May 1992). "Rambo, Rimbaud, Which Is Best?". The New York Times Books.
  3. ^ Prusse, Michael C. (2003). British and Irish Novelists Since 1960. Detroit, Michigan: Gale. ISBN 978-0-7876-6015-4.
  4. ^ Annan, Gabriele. "Numbers Game". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Fiction Book Review: The Gates of Ivory by Margaret Drabble". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
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Works by Margaret Drabble
Novels
  • A Summer Bird-Cage (1963)
  • The Garrick Year (1964)
  • The Millstone (1965)
  • Jerusalem the Golden (1967)
  • The Waterfall (1969)
  • The Needle's Eye (1972)
  • The Realms of Gold (1975)
  • The Ice Age (1977)
  • The Middle Ground (1980)
  • The Radiant Way (1987)
  • A Natural Curiosity (1989)
  • The Gates of Ivory (1991)
  • The Witch of Exmoor (1996)
  • The Peppered Moth (2001)
  • The Seven Sisters (2002)
  • The Red Queen (2004)
  • The Sea Lady (2006)
  • The Pure Gold Baby (2013)
  • The Dark Flood Rises (2016)
With others
  • London Consequences (1972)
As editor


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