Pyat Quartet
Encyclopedia
Pyat Quartet is a tetralogy
of novel
s (1981–2006) by Michael Moorcock
comprising Byzantium Endures
, The Laughter of Carthage
, Jerusalem Commands
and The Vengeance of Rome
.
The novels are set as if narrated to Moorcock by (fictional) Colonel Pyat or Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski (born on 1 January 1900 in Kiev
), a classic unreliable narrator
.
Tetralogy
A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works....
of novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s (1981–2006) by Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
comprising Byzantium Endures
Byzantium Endures
Byzantium Endures is a novel by Michael Moorcock. It is the first in the Pyat Quartet tetralogy.The book is written in the first person from the point of view of unreliable narrator Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski, whose posthumous notes Moorcock claims to have transcribed.Pyat, as he is also known,...
, The Laughter of Carthage
The Laughter of Carthage
The Laughter of Carthage is the second novel in the Pyat Quartet tetralogy of novels by Michael Moorcock. It was first published in 1984 by Secker & Warburg. It was written in tandem, one during the day, and one at night, with the second novel in the Von Bek series, The City in the Autumn Stars....
, Jerusalem Commands
Jerusalem Commands
Jerusalem Commands is a novel by Michael Moorcock. It is the third in the Pyat Quartet tetralogy....
and The Vengeance of Rome
The Vengeance of Rome
The Vengeance of Rome is a novel by Michael Moorcock. It is the fourth in the Pyat Quartet tetralogy....
.
The novels are set as if narrated to Moorcock by (fictional) Colonel Pyat or Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski (born on 1 January 1900 in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
), a classic unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
.