1339 ... or So: Being an Apology for a Pedlar

by Nicholas Seare and Trevanian

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151899355
• ISBN13: 9780151899357
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A boisterous, heart-rending, and insightful mediaeval tale.

In this literary labour dedicated to his children, 1339...or So reveals Rod Whitaker at his most lacerating disposition...and perhaps his most poignant. By way of the verbal prestidigitation of a pedlar (and through his Welsh-incarnation Nicholas Seare), Whitaker articulates his insights into human nature and the human condition; at times painful, but always illuminating. The Pedlar is a "glib" of fabulous colour and piercing intellect -- part world-weary cynic, part jaded sentimental -- reminiscent of other characters who inhabited Whitaker's literature under the Trevanian nom de plume. But in this End of the World setting, the entrancing prestidigiator's pointed wit ultimately gives way to poignant self-realisation which Whitaker delivers in fine, unforgettable, and autumnal fashion. -- 1339...or So saw its inception as Rod Whitaker's masteral thesis titled "Eve of the Bursting."

Brilliantly funny and sad parable of medieval times

Rod Whitaker has given the world some great books. Under his own name he penned an essential filmmaker's text, as Trevanian he wrote the best airport novels ever, and as Nicholas Seare, he's produced two incomparably gross, funny, and touching parodies of medieval literature. 1339 is a novel about a pedlar who is not who he seems -- in fact, he is purely a vehicle for Whitaker's mordantly acute wit and devastating (yet well disguised) sentimentality. All this and, as the decrepit author, a sly send-up of bloodless academia (Whitaker's native realm, as University of Texas film prof) too!