The Confusion

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Confusion
Author	Neal Stephenson
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Baroque Cycle
Genre(s)	Historical novel
Publisher	William Morrow
Publication date	2004
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	815 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-06-052386-7
Preceded by	Quicksilver
Followed by	The System of the World

The Confusion is a novel by Neal Stephenson. It is the second volume in The Baroque Cycle.

The Confusion consists of two books, Bonanza and The Juncto which are "con-fused" together, so that one jumps back and forth between them as one reads through The Confusion. This is the only volume of the Baroque Cycle that is so confused; the novels contained in the other two volumes are read in order (comment taken from the book).

The title has several other meanings:

• the cryptographic terms confusion and diffusion (several of the characters are involved in code-breaking)
• the metallurgic term confusion, for the process of mingling two metals into an alloy (referring to the efforts of several characters involved in refining gold)

In 2005, The Confusion won the Locus Award, together with The System of the World.

Contents 1 Main characters 2 Other characters 3 Editions 4 External links

[edit] Main characters

• Eliza
• Bob Shaftoe
• Jack Shaftoe
• Daniel Waterhouse

[edit] Other characters

• Dappa, galley slave, Nigerian, sailor aboard Minerva
• Enoch Root
• Moseh de la Cruz, galley slave, Spanish Jew
• Vrej Esphahnian, galley slave, Armenian
• Mr. Foot, English galley slave, ex-privateer, ex-publican, ex-slave merchant
• Èdouard de Gex, Jesuit fanatic
• Gabriel Goto, galley slave, Jesuit priest from Japan
• Lothar von Hacklheber, German banker obsessed with alchemy
• Jeronimo, galley slave, a high-born Spaniard with Tourette syndrome
• Nyazi, galley slave, camel-trader of the Upper Nile
• Otto van Hoek, galley slave, pirate-hating Dutch captain of the Minerva
• Yevgeny the Raskolnik, galley slave, Russian whaler
• Bonaventure Rossignol, French cryptologist
• Danny Shaftoe, son of Jack Shaftoe
• Jimmy Shaftoe, son of Jack Shaftoe
• Nasr al-Ghurab, rais (commander) of the galleot

[edit] Editions

• ISBN 0-06-052386-7: First hardcover edition, released April, 2004.
• ISBN 0-06-073335-7: Paperback edition.

[edit] External links

• Metaweb intermediate page
• Wired article
• Salon article

v • d • e Works by Neal Stephenson The Baroque Cycle Quicksilver (2003) • The Confusion (2004) • The System of the World (2004) Other novels The Big U (1984) • Zodiac (1988) • Snow Crash (1992) • Interface (1994) • The Diamond Age (1995) • The Cobweb (1996) • Cryptonomicon (1999) • Anathem (2008) Short stories "Spew" (1994) • "The Great Simoleon Caper" (1995) • "Jipi and the paranoid chip" (1997) Essays Smiley's people (1993) • In the Kingdom of Mao Bell (1994) • Mother Earth Mother Board (1996) • Global Neighborhood Watch (1998) • In the Beginning... was the Command Line (1999)