Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance
Encyclopedia
Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance is Richard Powers
' first novel written over two years and published in 1985 to critical acclaim.
. Two parallel narratives, one in the voice suspected to be the author, whose surname, we learn starts with P, offer contemporary perspectives and illustrate the interconnectedness of events. These voices provide contemporary perspectives on technology
-- the major theme of the novel. A series of rather academic essays on the nature of photography
, including quotes from Walter Benjamin
and Hannah Arendt
- in the authorial narrative voice of Mr P - are interspersed with the story.
The story begins with the authorial narrative voice of Mr P. first sighting the photograph taken in the months before the outbreak of World War I
of three young boys in Germany - a photograph which is titled Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance and which is being exhibited at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The novel follows the fictional fates of these three young men in war time, as well as the stories of Peter Mays, a technical editor for a 1980s electronics magazine and Mr P - the first person narrator of sections of the novel - who is obsessed with the photograph and with concepts of photography and technology.
Note that Powers's later novel Galatea 2.2
, published in 1995, uses the first person perspective of semifictional narrator Richard Powers to describe to a large extent the conditions under which Powers wrote Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance
Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance attempts to balance the technological advancements that caused the large scale deaths in World War I
with those that created art for the masses in the form of photography.
Richard Powers
Richard Powers is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology.- Life and work :...
' first novel written over two years and published in 1985 to critical acclaim.
Plot summary
The novel follows the journeys of three young European boys represented in a circa 1913 or 1914 photograph by August SanderAugust Sander
August Sander was a German portrait and documentary photographer. Sander's first book Face of our Time was published in 1929...
. Two parallel narratives, one in the voice suspected to be the author, whose surname, we learn starts with P, offer contemporary perspectives and illustrate the interconnectedness of events. These voices provide contemporary perspectives on technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
-- the major theme of the novel. A series of rather academic essays on the nature of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, including quotes from Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
and Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...
- in the authorial narrative voice of Mr P - are interspersed with the story.
The story begins with the authorial narrative voice of Mr P. first sighting the photograph taken in the months before the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
of three young boys in Germany - a photograph which is titled Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance and which is being exhibited at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The novel follows the fictional fates of these three young men in war time, as well as the stories of Peter Mays, a technical editor for a 1980s electronics magazine and Mr P - the first person narrator of sections of the novel - who is obsessed with the photograph and with concepts of photography and technology.
Note that Powers's later novel Galatea 2.2
Galatea 2.2
Galatea 2.2 is a novel by Richard Powers. The novel is pseudo-autobiographical: the narrator is named Richard Powers and there is discussion of the four novels he wrote before Galatea 2.2 along with other references to his real biography. Richard Powers creates a version of himself for the novel...
, published in 1995, uses the first person perspective of semifictional narrator Richard Powers to describe to a large extent the conditions under which Powers wrote Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance
Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance attempts to balance the technological advancements that caused the large scale deaths in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
with those that created art for the masses in the form of photography.