![]() ![]() ![]() I appreciated the humanity of this story the juxtaposition of Michelangelo the man and Michelangelo the genius. There is a heavy dose of Italian history (Florentine and papal, in particular) also woven into the fabric of this novel, and while I found this educational, it was not what kept me reading. Most notably, Irving weaves snippets of Michelangelo’s poetry (yes, he was a poet too!) throughout the novel. While the crafting could perhaps have been more interesting (perhaps I have become accustomed many twenty-first-century novels’ manipulation of time and memory), there were elements of Irving’s style that I appreciated. ![]() This novel follows a linear representation of Michelangelo’s life Irving introduces Michelangelo the youth and as the novel progresses Michelangelo matures, ages and eventually dies. Irving’s tome was at once escapist and educational. At a time when traveling was not an option, I found such literary travels - on both geographic and temporal planes - all the more meaningful. Stone’s work is so detailed and researched that in reading it, I walked the streets of Renaissance Florence, roamed the hills beyond its walls, and interacted with great figures like Da Vinci and Lorenzo de Medici. As historical fiction, The Agony and the Ecstasy transports its reader to late fifteenth-/early sixteenth-century Italy. From his apprenticeship at that bodega Michelangelo embarks down a winding path toward artistic greatness. Stone’s novel begins with young Michelangelo finding his way to Ghirlandaio’s studio (of fresco painting) as an adolescent. It’s 661 pages follow Michelangelo Buonarroti throughout his impressive life. Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961), the biographical novel of Michelangelo, was the first unread book I pulled from my shelves during our quarantine. One silver lining of the corona virus stay-at-home order and closure of all nonessential businesses (the public library included), is that I have found myself scanning my bookshelves for unread titles. ![]()
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