![]() ![]() ![]() I was also stumped by Augustus' decision at the end, but I suppose he'd learned something about secrets being part of one's identity. The Roads Round Pisa - I didn't grasp all the plot of this one without help the secret is in the nested stories. Dinesen is playing with gothic conventions here, and it takes some familiarity to appreciate it. The Monkey - I was deeply engaged by this, but a little thrown off by its ending when the supernatural element suddenly intrudes. The Old Chevalier - It is strange that a story ostensibly about the value of making moral choices at the expense of one's pleasures should feature a character who appears to make no choices at all. The characters themselves are fans of gothic sensibility, finding the romantic in the ocean's power and thus making them susceptible to its darker side, in both a physical and notional sense. The Deluge at Norderney - this first story directly addresses the gothic in its opening page. ![]() Stories within the stories result in many more tales than seven. Masks, disguises and mistaken identities abound. A common theme across these stories is bravely facing impending death. Dinesen is artful and playing at subterfuge, demanding an effort to interpret. The supernatural is present but doesn't often strongly feature. ![]() A mixture of gothic themes with 1930s style. ![]()
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