(Drivebycuriosity) - Johannes Kepler was an mathematician & astronomer, who lived in Europe`s center (1571 - 1630 wikipedia). The scientist experienced tumultuous time:. Europe´s super-powers - popes, emperors, kings, dukes & bishops - fought about control, the Catholic church persecuted Calvinists, Lutherans and other reformers, the Turks tried to overtake the continent & the plague spread all over the country. Life was very fragile & hazardous then and the protagonist´s fate depended on the arbitrariness of the more powerful.
The Irish writer John Banville distilled Kepler´s live into a novel: "Kepler. A Novel" (amazon). The author didn´t care much about Kepler`s mathematical & astronomical discoveries, instead he focused on the astronomer´s personal life, starting around the year 1600. Banville described how Kepler struggled with his health (or the lack of it) and with an unfriendly political environment. The novel delineates the mathematicians relations with colleagues & superiors - and especially with wife, children and his step daughter (this is a spoiler free blog). The book is partly fictional (as most history books) and Banville depicted what Kepler had thought & felt even though just only the protagonist himself would know that. I enjoyed the elaborated language and style which immersed me deep into Kepler`s period - a time travel into a dark & dangerous period.
This is my second book by Banville. Before I read his novel "Wolf on a string"- written under the pseudonym Benjamin Black (here my review driveby). This book is also set at the court of Habsburg emperor Rudolf in Prague around the year 1600. It seems the author used his research for Kepler to create another novel, this time a murder mystery. I loved both books and I am already reading another Banville novel.
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