more on BEFORE NEW YORK
a novel by Charles Wehrenberg (with illustrations, 496 pages $15 )
CONCERNING THE HISTORICAL RECORD:
While BEFORE NEW YORK is definitely fiction because of my grand
presumptions concerning the enigmatic Clement Perret, it is more fact than
fiction. Perret, Ortelius, Plantin, Bruegel, Cervantes, Niclaes,
Monardes, Granvelle, Philip of Spain and Alba were real and co-existed as
I have rendered them. When possible I have allowed their poems and
letters to speak for them. Copies of Clement Perret's writing book still
exist (see page 340,) as do Bruegel's paintings (cover & page 8) and many
of Plantin's books and Ortelius' maps (page 438.) Likewise in Japan,
Nobunaga and Hideyoshi studied golf and otherwise interacted with the
barbarian Jesuits as I have depicted them. Elizabeth I and her pirate
Drake played crucial roles in this historical period which serves as such
a rich metaphor for contemporary times.
As a reading guide, I recommend:
- Antonio Moro, son oeuvre..., H. Hymans;
- The Decline of Antwerp Under Philip of Spain, J. Wegg;
- The Golden Compasses, L. Voet;
- Sources of Japanese Tradition, T. De Bary, R. Tsunoda, et. al., Columbia University Press;
- Paré On Monsters and Marvels, Chicago Press facsimile;
- Frampton’s Monardes, AMS Press facsimile;
- Guicciardini The Description of the Low Countries, W. Johnson facsimile;
- Cervantes, F. Ledesma,
- Asia in the Making of Europe, D. Lach;
- Alba, W. Maltby;
- Antwerp in the Age of Plantin and Bruegel, J. Murray;
- The Jesuits, D. Mitchell;
- Scribes and Sources, A. Osley;
- Graphic Works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, H. Klein;
- Bruegel, B. Claessens, et. al.;
- Legend in Japanese Art, H. Joly;
- Ortelius The Theatre of the Whole World, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd. facsimile;
- Exercitatio Alphabetica Clementis Perreti, Miland Press facsimile.
AWARENESS THROUGH FICTION
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