Landscape with figures

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About this book

"Landscape with figures" by Ronald Fraser is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows a circle of European “Seven Sages” led by the industrial magnate Lord Sombrewater, whose minute-writer Ambrose Herbert narrates their voyage into an idealized China where art, landscape, and philosophy blur. Blending travel fantasy with philosophical comedy, it contrasts Western power, science, and appetite with ancient Chinese poise, with Lychnis—Sombrewater’s vivid, questing daughter—at the emotional center. The opening of the novel presents a preface framing the tale as a mind’s encounter with Chinese art, then shifts to Ambrose’s calm diary of the Sages aboard the yacht Floating Leaf in eastern waters. After lyrical sea scenes and sharp portraits of the party—Lord Sombrewater, Lychnis, Ruby, Terence, Quentin, Sir Richard, Fulke, Sprot, and the ascetic Blackwood—a threatened mutiny and a storm push them to a river mouth amid fantastical hills.