Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the Book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Aug 2008, 480 pages
Paperback:
Aug 2009, 480 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Stacey Brownlie
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This article relates to The Gargoyle
Grotesques vs Gargoyles
The theme of the grotesque
is prominent in The Gargoyle. Marianne, a stone
carver, educates the narrator on the difference between
gargoyles and grotesques: A gargoyle is a decorated water
spout, from the French word gargouille from which the verb gargle originates; whereas a grotesque can be decorative or weight supporting,
but is never a water spout. The Cornell University
Library provides a good
summation on the topic and a
gallery of gargoyles and grotesques, while this
website provides a leisurely video tour around the
grotesques of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
The grotesque in literature brings to mind Flannery
O'Conner, Edgar Allen Poe and other diverse authors. Joyce
Carol Oates discusses the grotesque's use in literature and
art
here. The grotesque in art is difficult to define, as
shown by the University of Chicago's
article on the topic, because its characteristics are
based more on what it is not (e.g., not typical or not
normal) than what it is.
Dante's Inferno
Inferno, the first portion of the
Divine Comedy, is another central theme in The
Gargoyle. The protagonist's experiences as a burn victim
as well as Marianne's tales of love and loss relate to the
concepts of suffering, faith, sin and the afterlife found in
Dante's writing. Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy
in the 1300's; it remains one of the most studied works of
medieval literature . A sub-site of the
Eastern Kentucky University provides a visual tour
through the circular stages of Dante's version of Hell found
in the Inferno, as does this
University of Texas at Austin website. The Divine
Comedy can be read online
here.
The Englethal Monastery
The monastery where Marianne is raised in
the book was a real medieval monastery where nuns worked as
scribes, as Davidson relates in his story. It was located
near Nuremberg, Germany. For a history and description of
the site, visit the
University of Southern California website.
This "beyond the book article" relates to The Gargoyle. It originally ran in August 2008 and has been updated for the
August 2009 paperback edition.
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