''Cox oder Der Lauf der Zeit'' ("Cox or The passage of time") is a 2016 novel by the Austrian writer
Christoph Ransmayr
Christoph Ransmayr (born 20 March 1954) is an Austrian writer.
Life
Born in Wels, Upper Austria, Ransmayr grew up in Roitham near Gmunden and the Traunsee. From 1972 to 1978 he studied philosophy and ethnology in Vienna. He worked there as ...
. It is set in the 18th century and revolves the English master clockmaker Alister Cox, who is invited by the
Qianlong Emperor to come and work in the
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...
, where he is given a succession of seemingly impossible requests.
The Cox character is inspired by the real inventor
James Cox. The real Cox never visited China, although the Qianlong Emperor did own one of his works.
Reception
Gisa Funck of ''
Deutschlandfunk'' wrote: "In ''Cox oder Der Lauf der Zeit'', Ransmayr describes the clash between two highly different cultures. A strength of this in several respects masterful novel lies in how he tells us about the strangeness of the Chinese empire, without suppressing the local perspective."
The French translation was longlisted for the 2017
Prix Femina
The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works writte ...
in the foreign novel category.
See also
*
Cox's timepiece
Cox's timepiece is a clock developed in the 1760s by James Cox. It was developed in collaboration with John Joseph Merlin (with whom Cox also worked on developing automata). Cox claimed that his design was a true perpetual motion machine, but as ...
References
External links
German publicity page
2016 novels
21st-century Austrian novels
Austrian historical novels
German-language novels
Novels by Christoph Ransmayr
Novels set in the 18th century
Novels set in Beijing
Novels set in the Qing dynasty
Qianlong Emperor
S. Fischer Verlag books
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