Awake

Harald Voetmann's debut novel, "Awake," is a comic delight that brings to life Pliny the Elder, a great mind housed in a not-so-great human body. The book is the first of a trilogy about humankind's inhuman will to conquer nature.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 135 pages
Publication date: 25 August 2022
Publisher: Lolli Editions

Harald Voetmann's captivating English debut, "Awake," marks the beginning of his erudite and grotesque trilogy, delving into the inhuman will of humankind to conquer nature. Set in an ancient bedroom in Italy, the sleepless Pliny the Elder, plagued by insomnia, diligently dictates new chapters of his Natural History to his slave Diocles. With a wheezing, imperious demeanor and a tendency for nosebleeds, Pliny refuses to waste his evenings in repose. To him, being awake is the essence of life. There is no time to lose if he is to classify every element of the natural world in a single work. By day, Pliny the Elder fulfills his civic responsibilities and occasionally delivers disastrous public readings. Despite his awe-inspiring ambition to catalog everything from precious metals to the moon, Pliny the Elder still finds joy in the common rose. In his rush to witness the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Pliny tragically perishes in the ash, leaving his nephew, Pliny the Younger, as the caretaker of his life's work. However, where Pliny the Elder saw starlight, Pliny the Younger sees only fireflies. Through masterful prose, Voetmann vividly brings to life Pliny the Elder and his pompous nephew, creating a comic delight that explores the remarkable mind of history and the not-so-great human body it inhabited.

Weight: 190g
Dimension: 130 x 197 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781915267092