Description
A novel constructed around the life of Johann Genfleisch of Gutenberg follows the master printer, visionary, and conman who lived in an era of plagues and medieval culture as he gambles everything on an extraordinary invention that will change the world. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.
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Blake Morrison has woven a stunning novel around the few facts known about the life and work of Johann Gensfleisch (aka Gutenberg), master printer, charmer, con man, and visionary -- the man who invented "artificial writing" and printed the Gutenberg Bible, putting thousands of monks out of work.In this dazzling debut novel, Morrison gives Gutenberg's final testament: a justification and apologia he dictated, ironically, to one of the young scribes made obsolete by his invention of movable metal type. Through the eyes of the aging narrator, we see the Middle Ages in a strange new light and witness a moment of cultural transition as dramatic as the communications revolution of today.
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