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Triptych of Times, a novel by
Vincent van Mechelen,
is a trilogy consisting of The Last Heavenly King,
Waiting Can Wait and Legends of the Future.
Below you will find:
Synopsis of Part One: The Last Heavenly King
In this first part of Triptych of Times, Hong Kuiyuan tells his personal
story of the collapse, in 1864, of the Heavenly Kingdom, referred to as
the Taiping Rebellion by its Chinese and foreign enemies. His father,
the Shield King, and his cousin, the Young Monarch, are captured and
executed by the imperial Qing. The sixteen-year-old Kuiyuan himself
escapes but is later captured and abused by pirates. And when he finally
arrives in Hong Kong, his hopes are shattered again. Yet, while the first
Heavenly King s attempt to found his own Christian theocracy on Earth led
to the deaths of more than 20 million people, Kuiyuan manages to survive
and to start a new life in one of the Guianas. (The basics are fact.) In
Part Two, Hong Kuiyuan will live on as the great-great-grandfather of the
protagonist Nancy Hong Waiting, and as the (fictional) writer of this
historical novella.
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Synopsis of Part Two: Waiting Can Wait
When Nancy Hong Waiting (pronounced Why Teeng ) replies, I can think,
I can wait, I can fast, she is hired at once as a server in Food for
Reflection, a new Amsterdam restaurant which, unfortunately, has not yet
attracted any visitors for weeks.
Nancy, a young Dutchwoman of Chinese descent, can think, for she
graduated in philosophy; and she can wait, for the restaurant, which
serves no food in the normal sense of the word, will eventually become a
great success because of her; and she can fast, that is, do without food,
money or sex, if need be. After she drops her old, orthodox boyfriend (and
her Nancy name), it is precisely because of her tragic dismissal that
she finds a new, much more interesting boyfriend, who is not averse to a
more modern present either. But her deepest, most critical and innovative
thoughts come from Soemati, her best friend (or alter ego?). Whereas the
traditional Christmas dinner at the beginning represents Waiting s ties
with the past (and the first part of Triptych of Times), the solstitial
New Year s brunch at the end establishes Waiting s biological and cultural
ties with the future (and the third part of this trilogy).
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Synopsis of Part Three: Legends of the Future
This third part of Triptych of Times consists of eight stories told by the
Namibian-born Sondaha Persoon, a great-great-grandchild of Hong Waiting,
the protagonist of the second part. The stories are interconnected by the
legend of the washer and the skater. In the course of four days the skater
develops from a bad brute into a good hoister. And the washer (a tramp in
the skater s eyes)? After meeting a sage, a carpenter s child, a chess
player, a swimmer, and a few more of such characters, it is up to the
reader to decide. This reader is confronted with a future in which the
Gregorian calendar is a thing of the past and gender irrelevant in all but
two contexts. On top of that, the main story is, perhaps, not really about
the flag it supposedly is about. The philosophy of life embraced in this
novella of ideas could hardly be more different from that of Sondaha s
ancestors two to three centuries earlier.
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Note on the language
Just as the use and spelling of words change in the course of time, so,
too, the language of the beginning of this trilogy (with a more
etymological or 'British' spelling)
is different from that of the end, about 235 years later (with a more
phonematic or 'American' spelling and real third-person singular pronouns).
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Audiofiles
The poem
Jesus' Sib, using Coleridge's
opium recited at the end of the first chapter of The Last
Heavenly King has been recorded.
Crying a Lot, sung in the story entitled "The swimmer and the
picker" (the third part of the second chapter of
Legends of the Future), has been recorded
as well.
Jesus' Sib (poem), 3:06,
2.9 MB
Crying a Lot (song), 1:16,
3.0 MB
Availability
The whole Triptych of Times used to be available as a paperback
book, printed on demand on an
E[spresso]B[ook]M[achine].
It can now be requested worldwide, in more than ten countries, at
all places with
an EBM, of which more than 30 in the United States of America and more
than 10 in Canada alone.
There are six to eight
stores
in the States which offer it for ordering online.
Triptych of Times was first printed and for sale at the two
ABC book stores
in the Netherlands.
(The staff of the American Book Center recommended Triptych of
Times in their 'ABC EBM Books recommendations'.)
ABC
EBM Books recommendations.)
In addition to the novel proper the EBM paperback contains:
- the pronunciation of more than 40 names
- a chronology for the entire Triptych
- information about the author and
MVVM-site addresses
- two black-and-white images of paintings
See above for the ISBN of the book and other
details.
Part One of Triptych of Times, The Last Heavenly King,
a historical novella in itself, is also available online as an ebook from
Smashwords in
Epub, Mobi (for Kindle), PDF and LRF (for Sony) formats.
In addition to the novella proper this ebook contains:
- information about the author with links to
MVVM-site
- two full-color images of paintings
(The capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was
Nanjing, rechristened
"Tianjing".
Today there is hardly anything left that reminds one of those turbulent
years, or it must be the stables at the
Presidential Palace.
And, of course, there still are
the city walls of
Nanjing that 'saw and experienced' the horrors of the past.)
See above for more details about this ebook
publication.
(You may also be interested in
Is PayPal the Client's Pal or the
Censor's?, about Smashwords' temporarily rather troubled relation with
Paypal.)
Part Two of Triptych of Times, Waiting Can Wait, and Part
Three, Legends of the Future, are not (yet) available as ebooks or
separate publications.
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