The Connoisseur, Evan S. Connell
The Connoisseur, Evan S. Connell
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The Connoisseur
A Novel

Author: Evan S. Connell

Narrator: Robertson Dean

Unabridged: 5 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2020


Synopsis

Acclaimed author Evan S. Connell sends us through the complete experience of a man initially intrigued and then enslaved by art: a curious interest, a rapt fixation, and the becoming of a connoisseur. The Connoisseur trails the evolution of Muhlbach, an insurance executive on a business trip in Taos, New Mexico, who develops an obsession with pre-Columbian figurines after meandering through a curio shop. Entranced yet bewildered by his sudden affinity for a little figurine, Muhlbach succumbs to his intrigue and, thirty dollars later, begins his journey as a connoisseur.With superb delivery and subtle clarity, Connell allows us to see and feel Muhlbach’s emerging mania, with its impending tension and sudden exhilaration. He illustrates how a new fixation alters our lens on life and shapes our actions.

About Evan S. Connell

Evan S. Connell (1924–2013) was named a finalist for the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for achievement in fiction. He received numerous prizes and awards for his writing and was the author of more than twenty books of fiction, poetry, essays, and history, including the biography of General Armstrong Custer, Son of the Morning Star.

About Robertson Dean

Robertson Dean has recorded hundreds of audiobooks in most every genre. He's been nominated for several Audie Awards, won nine Earphones Awards, and was named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of 2010. He lives in Los Angeles, where he records books and acts in film, TV, and (especially) on stage.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tim on February 10, 2012

Nobody's read this book, as far as I can tell. It's one of my favorite books and, I think, one of the great lost classics of the twentieth century. I'm not kidding. It's an odd little book, if for no other reason than there are no subplots: Muhlbach discovers an interest in pre-Columbian art. That i......more

Goodreads review by Ms.pegasus on September 26, 2023

A mystique envelopes those deemed art connoisseurs, chiefly figures of a past era such as Bernard Berenson and Thomas Hoving. They speak of being transported back across time into the mind of the artist. Today, leaning heavily on science to authenticate a work, it's easy to dismiss that kind of uniq......more

Goodreads review by Pascale on December 08, 2017

Why is this book not considered an American classic? I loved every word of this simple, haunting story. On a business trip to New Mexico, Muhlbach, a widower with 2 children who works in insurance, falls in love with a small statue in a junk shop. Initially, he couldn't care less about its authentic......more

Goodreads review by Josh on April 08, 2022

A surprising, low-key, excellent novel. An insurance agent on a business trip in the Southwest stops off in Taos and, on a whim, buys a pre-Columbian statue. The impulse purchase slowly expands its hold on him as he gets deeper into the world of gallerists, auctioneers, decorators, scholars, and col......more

Goodreads review by Prooost on June 15, 2013

A businessman visits Taos and buys a little pre-Columbian statue. He is assured that the statue is authentic, but he really doesn't care, he just likes it. But he takes the shop owner's suggestion and has an expert look at it. The expert also pronounces it authentic. From this small beginning, the b......more


Quotes

“Perhaps you won’t recognize—in yourself—middle-aged, conservative, really formal Mr. Muhlbach as readily as you did Mr. or Mrs. Bridge — he’s really the disembodiment of any obsession which can and often does overtake us at any time…He is last seen looking at a little hunchbacked dwarf in a window who expressionlessly returns his gaze, speculating on how dangerous is that little knowledge and how insidious that impulse to acquire...The Connoisseur is for fastidious others like him — a finely drawn, hooded entertainment which teases and appropriates the reader.” Kirkus Reviews