“I have a discovery to report. Many of the world’s great treasures are known to have been lost over the centuries. I believe I may have found one of them. What follows is the evidence for my claim” (Frayn 3).
So begins Michael Frayn’s heady and sometimes dizzying novel Headlong, which plunges readers into a romp through art, philosophy and history in a comically rueful tale that revolves around a single painting, a supposedly lost masterpiece by the 16th century Dutch landscape painter Pieter Bruegel titled The Merrymakers. An intoxicating blend of farce, social critique and mystery, Headlong—which was nominated for Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize—also examines issues of ethics, morality, greed, and intellectual hubris, as well as offering a dark look into marital
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Citation: Blansfield, Karen. "Headlong". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 June 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4871, accessed 24 April 2024.]
