Can I read Mr. Beethoven on EtoBox?

Mr. Beethoven by Paul Griffiths, 1947 November 24- is a work of fiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Mr. Beethoven about?

Shortlisted for the 2020 Goldsmiths Prize Based on the German composer's own correspondence, this inventive, counterfactual work of historical fiction imagines Beethoven traveling to America to write an oratorio based on the Book of Job. It is a matter of historical record that in 1823 the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston (active to this day) sought to commission Beethoven to write an oratorio. The premise of Paul Griffiths’s ingenious novel is that Beethoven accepted the commission and traveled to the United States to oversee its first performance. Griffiths grants the composer a few extra years of life and, starting with his voyage across the Atlantic and entry into Boston Harbor, chronicles his adventures and misadventures in a new world in which, great man though he is, he finds himself a new man. Relying entirely on historically attested possibilities to develop the plot, Griffiths shows Beethoven learning a form of sign language, struggling to rein in the uncertain inspiration of Reverend Ballou (his designated librettist), and finding a kindred spirit in the widowed Mrs. Hill, all the while keeping his hosts guessing as to whether he will come through with his promised com

Who reads Mr. Beethoven?

Author

Paul Griffiths, 1947 November 24-

Publisher

New York Review of Books, Incorporated, The

Published

2021

Language

EN

ISBN

9781681375816

Category

work of fiction

Subjects

Literary Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Rating

3.6 / 5 (33 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14