Biography: writers Books

Book SynopsisIncludes a new introduction from Sophie Hannah, bestselling author of THE MONOGRAM MURDERS and HAVEN''T THEY GROWNAgatha Christie was not only the biggest selling writer of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews, declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure, and a mystery too in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success.H R F Keating, a crime novelist and respected reviewer of crime fiction, brought together a dozen distinguished writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on this double mystery. Some analyse the art itself; some explain the reasons for her success, not just the books, but also in film and theatre.The approaches are penetrating, affectionate, enthusiastic, analytical, funny - even critical. Together, they give an almost unique insight into the life and work of the First Lady of Crime.Trade ReviewA salute by her fellow thriller writers and by those who know about her plays and films is all that is needed ... Gilbert's summary of Dame Agatha's life strikes just the right note and his handling of the 1926 "disappearance" when Dame Agatha was missing for nine days is informative ... Walter's account of Christie's sales as seen by her London publisher is full of interest * DAILY TELEGRAPH *

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Book SynopsisThe title of this book, Derivative Lives, alludes to the challenge of finding one's way within the contemporary market of virtually limitless information and claims to veracity. Amid this profusion of options, it is easy to feel lost in spaces of uncertainty where biographical truth teeters between the real and the imaginative. The title thus also points to the prolific market of biographical novels that openly and intentionally play in the speculative space between the real and the fictional. Drawing on theories of risk and uncertainty, Derivative Lives considers the surge in biofiction in Spain and globally, relating literary expression to concepts such as circumstantiality, derivatives, speculation, and game studies.Trade ReviewA brilliant analysis of the Spanish biofictional novel within the wider context of contemporary thought. Virginia Rademacher examines research from both within and beyond the field of literary criticism to show how biofiction as a genre challenges the notion of history as an abstraction or an irretrievable reality by depicting how real people deal with specific historical situations. Rademacher's command of modern history, intellectual currents, and the Spanish bio-novel is indeed impressive. * Bárbara Mujica, author of Frida, Sister Teresa, I Am Venus and Miss del Río *With case studies drawn from some of contemporary Spain’s most exciting writers, this is an original and compellingly theorized exploration of how biofiction works to understand, vex, exploit, or otherwise experiment with questions of uncertainty, identity, and risk in the supermodern present. Rademacher engages playfully and productively with disciplinary discourses emerging from fields such as law, finance and economics—which similarly contend with competing claims to truth and value—and dives deep into the circumstantial and speculative games that authors play when they write fiction about reality. * Samuel Amago, Professor of Spanish, University of Virginia, USA *Considering the rich field of Spanish biofiction in relation to concepts of uncertainty, speculation, and risk in a post-truth age, Rademacher’s Derivative Lives establishes an exciting interdisciplinary nexus. In the course of this study, Rademacher expands the scope and ambition of biofiction studies. * Bethany Layne, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, De Montfort University, UK *Derivative Lives nos ofrece una profunda, amena, necesaria y muy interesante indagación de las borrosas fronteras entre lo real y lo ficticio, en un mundo cada vez más impreciso en donde ni siquiera la propia identidad resulta fiable. Derivative Lives offers us a deep, entertaining, necessary, and very interesting investigation of the blurred borders between reality and fiction, in an increasingly imprecise world where even one’s own identity is not reliable. * Rosa Montero, writer, author of El peligro de estar cuerda (2022) *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction SECTION I The Circumstantial Case: Chasing Criminals/Tracing Traumatic Histories 1. Making the Circumstantial Case: Reasonable Doubt and Moral Certainty in Javier Cercas’ Soldiers of Salamis 2. Fugitive Biofictions: Antonio Muñoz Molina’s Like a Fading Shadow and Gabriela Ybarra’s The Dinner Guest SECTION II Speculative Truths and Derivative Fictions 3. Entertaining the What-Ifs in Rosa Montero’s The Madwoman of the House and the Ridiculous Idea of Never Seeing You Again 4. Fraudulent Pasts and Fictional Futures in Javier Cercas’ The Impostor and Adolfo García Ortega’s The Birthday Buyer SECTION III Critical Play in Biofictional Games 5. Playing for Real: Simulated Games of Identity in Lucía Etxebarria’s Courtney and I and Truth is Nothing but a Moment of Falsehood Appendices to Chapter 5 6. Literary Afterlives and Paratextual Play: Elvira Navarro’s The Last Days of Adelaida García Morales and Antonio Orejudos’s The Famous Five and Me Coda: Biofiction’s Antidotes to Post-Truth Endnotes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘The best biography I have read in years' Philippe Sands ‘Spectacular’ Observer ‘A remarkable portrait’ Guardian W. G. Sebald was one of the most extraordinary and influential writers of the twentieth century. Through books including The Emigrants, Austerlitz and The Rings of Saturn, he pursued an original literary vision that combined fiction, history, autobiography and photography and addressed some of the most profound themes of contemporary literature: the burden of the Holocaust, memory, loss and exile. The first biography to explore his life and work, Speak, Silence pursues the true Sebald through the memories of those who knew him and through the work he left behind. This quest takes Carole Angier from Sebald’s birth as a second-generation German at the end of the Second World War, through his rejection of the poisoned inheritance of the Third Reich, to his emigration to England, exploring the choice of isolation and exile that drove his work. It digs deep into a creative mind on the edge, finding profound empathy and paradoxical ruthlessness, saving humour, and an elusive mix of fact and fiction in his life as well as work. The result is a unique, ferociously original portrait.Trade ReviewA remarkable biography . . . The first major study of revered author and academic WG Sebald reveals an obsessive and brilliant mind . . . In her long and scholarly book, a testament to the powers of research and detailed dissection, Angier has presented a remarkable portrait of a writer consumed by work * Guardian *Meticulously researched … The brilliance of [this] biography, a spectacularly agile work of criticism as well as a feat of doggedly meticulous research, lies in Angier’s ability to look her subject straight in the eye while holding on to the sense of adoration that made her want to write it in the first place * Observer *The product of years of sleuthing … Angier’s openness about the difficulties she has encountered in trying to untangle [Sebald’s] enigma if anything adds to her portrait … The portrait which ultimately emerges convinces: of a tormented man, an isolated misfit, riven by self-doubt, who wrote to stave off depressive breakdowns and even madness and suicidal impulses * Spectator *It is a considerable achievement to unpick, so convincingly, mysteries Sebald has taken care to contrive. And to do it with such respect, and indeed generosity, that the great originals are burnished -- Iain SinclairSpeak, Silence is an extraordinary achievement. Carole Angier has been able to capture the genius of Sebald without trapping him in facile definitions, allowing his portrait the many hues and changing angles that those who knew him will recognize as profoundly true -- Alberto ManguelSebald once wrote to me that he would just like to be “a guardian of the lesser domains”. His work is enough, but this enticing and thorough book on his life and art proves that he was, in spite of his tragic and early death, an absolute master of the highest domains of literature -- Javier MaríasCarole Angier extends the scope of biography by turning her intense admiration for Sebald’s work into a personal quest for this enigmatic and disturbing writer -- Hilary SpurlingA biographer of great sympathy -- Michael HolroydEnthralling . . . I was exhilarated from start to finish, by subject, style and substance. It is the best biography I have read in years -- Philippe SandsA suitably unorthodox life of this singular writer . . . Angier’s strategy pays off: this is an insightful, compulsively readable book * Atlantic *W.G. Sebald so deliberately and cunningly blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction in his books that every reader longs for a clear-eyed guide to what is invented and what is ‘real’, while at the same time dreading the damage this might do to the delicate webs he weaves. Carole Angier’s tireless detective work has cleared up many of the mysteries, both in his life and in his work, while her critical acumen and manifest admiration for the latter ensures that it emerges enhanced rather than diminished from her labours. A riveting book -- Gabriel JosipoviciRemarkable, the definitive biography . . . Deeply researched, subtle, sympathetic * Claire Tomalin on 'Jean Rhys' *An acute literary intelligence . . . The reader comes to trust instinctively Angier’s assessments * New York Times on 'Jean Rhys' *Allows us to see Levi’s life in its full historical meaning * Financial Times on 'The Double Bond: Primo Levi' *Marvellous and visionary . . . Remarkable in all senses of the word * New York Times on 'The Double Bond: Primo Levi' *Angier writes with brio and occasional brilliance . . . By the end, I felt convinced that she had got to the heart of Levi * Guardian on 'The Double Bond: Primo Levi' *

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Book SynopsisJane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall...these fictional masterpieces are all recognised as landmarks of English Literature. Still inspirational and challenging to readers today, upon release in the mid-nineteenth century they caused a veritable sensation, chiefly due to their subject matter and unconventional styles. But the greatest sensation of all came when these books were revealed to be the creations of women. This is the story of those women and of the forces that shaped them into trailblazing writers. From early childhood, literature and the world of books held the attention and sparked the fertile imaginations of the emotionally intense and fascinating Bronte siblings. Beset by tragedy, three outlets existed for their grief and their creative talents; they escaped into books, into the wild moorlands surrounding their home and into their own rich inner lives and an intricate play-world born out of their collective imaginations. In this new study, Catherine Rayner offers a full and fascinating exploration of the formative years of these bright children, taking us on a journey from their earliest years to their tragically early deaths. The Bronte girls grew into women who were unafraid to write themselves into territories previously only visited by male authors. In addition, they tackled all the taboo subjects of their time; divorce, child abuse, bigamy, domestic violence, class, female depression and mental illness. Nothing was beyond their scope and it is especially for this ability and determination to speak for women, the marginalised and the disadvantaged that they are remembered and celebrated today, two hundred years after their births in the quiet Yorkshire village of Haworth. This timely release offers a fresh perspective on a fascinating family and a unique trio of talented and trailblazing sisters whose books will doubtless continue to haunt and inspire for generations to come.

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Book SynopsisAlthough his hilariously entertaining stories have touched the hearts of generations of children, there was much more to beloved author Roald Dahl than met the eye. His fascinating life began in Norway in 1916, and he became a highly rebellious teenager who delighted in defying authority before joining the RAF as a fighter pilot. But after his plane crashed in the African desert he was left with agonising injuries and unable to fly. He was dispatched to New York where, as a dashing young air attache, he enraptured societies greatest beauties and became friends with President Roosevelt. Roald soon found himself entangled with a highly complex network of British undercover operations. Eventually he grew tired of the secrecy of spying and retreated to the English countryside. He married twice and had five children, but his life was also affected by serious illness, tragedy and loss. He wrote a number of stories for adults, many of which were televised as the hugely popular Tales of the Unexpected, but it was as a children's author that he found greatest fame and satisfaction, saying I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful. From 1945 until his death in 1990, he lived in Buckinghamshire, where he wrote his most celebrated children's books including _Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ and _Fantastic Mr Fox. _

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Book SynopsisErudite and entertaining in equal measure, Somewhere Becoming Rain is a love letter from the much-loved writer Clive James to one of the world’s most cherished poets: Philip Larkin.'This is the finest critic of his generation on the best poet of his lifetime' – The TimesClive James was a life-long admirer of the work of Philip Larkin. Somewhere Becoming Rain gathers all of James's writing on this towering literary figure of the twentieth century, together with extra material now published for the first time.The greatness of Larkin's poetry continues to be obscured by the opprobrium attaching to his personal life and his private opinions. James writes about Larkin's poems, his novels, his jazz and literary criticism; he also considers the two major biographies, Larkin's letters and even his portrayal on stage in order to chart the extreme and, he argues, largely misguided equivocations about Larkin's reputation in the years since his death.Through this joyous and perceptive book, Larkin's genius is delineated and celebrated. James argues that Larkin's poems, adored by discriminating readers for over half a century, could only have been the product of his reticent, diffident, flawed, and all-too-human personality.'A collection to savour two-fold – for the genius of Larkin and the playful erudition of James' – Financial TimesTrade ReviewThe brilliance of James’s analysis, his clear-sighted view of Larkin’s solitude and humanity, and the fragile friendship between the two recorded in the book’s final pages, provide a monument to human connection and isolation together. It’s a perfect example of the “almost instinct” Larkin managed to prove “almost true” (hedging his bets to the end) – that what will survive of us is love. -- Andrew Hunter Murray * Guardian *A collection of witty essays by a great critic about a great poet . . . What will survive of Larkin is the work, and this small book is a joyful immersion in it. This is the finest critic of his generation on the best poet of his lifetime * The Times *To read a major critic on a major poet is one of the great pleasures. Clive James’s passion for the work of Philip Larkin, his intense scrutiny which reveals an extraordinary empathy makes Somewhere Becoming Rain: Collected Writings on Philip Larkin an outstanding book. -- Melvyn Bragg * New Statesman, Books of the Year 2019 *This slim collection of Clive James’ writings on Philip Larkin demonstrates both a life-long passion for the poet’s work and a deep critical endeavour to rehabilitate his reputation as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. A collection to savour two-fold – for the genius of Larkin and the playful erudition of James * Financial Times, Best Books of 2019 *This is a tribute to Larkin’s poems. James is good at reminding us why and how they were powerful, multivalent and memorable . . . He is also unusually observant. His parallels between Larkin and Montale are elucidating * TLS *Few contemporary critics display the passionate commitment to the idea of poetry, and to the idea of poetry's centrality to civilized life, that James does -- John Banville * New York Review of Books *One of the most important and influential writers of our time -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *‘[James] was what you might call a massive Philip Larkin fan. His specific fandom was feverish and absolute – and also, because he was Clive James, deeply considered and beautifully expressed . . . it’s a privilege to look back at Larkin – all of Larkin – through the prism of [James’s] appreciation * Atlantic *Perceptive . . . This volume also allows the reader to delight in James’s own prose, which surely rivals Larkin’s in the wit and insight stakes * The Crack *The late Clive James had much in common with Philip Larkin . . . In verse and prose, both blazed with wit and wrote scores of memorable lines . . . although their work was laced with sadness, few writers since have written with such beauty and gratitude about the world * Review 31 *

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Book Synopsis'I wanted to climb inside this book and live there' PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE'This witty, fascinating book is a delight. Read it' MIRIAM MARGOLYES'Superb, sparky and reflective' The Spectator'Gender fluidity? Pansexuality? Throuples? Chosen families? Cross-dressing? Kinks? Young Bloomsbury explores a place and time when queer life blossomed' Washington Post Controversial before the First World War, the Bloomsbury Group became notorious in the 1920s. New members joined their ranks, pushing at boundaries, flouting conventions, and spurring their seniors to new heights of creative activity. Bloomsbury had always celebrated sexual equality and freedom in private, but this younger generation brought their transgressive lifestyles out into the open. Nino Strachey reveals a vivid history surprisingly relevant to our present day.'One comes away slightly breathless with the sense of having left an excellent party full of wit and intrigue' TLS 'Highly entertaining and pacy, a must for Bloomsbury fans, young or old.' Country LifeTrade ReviewI want to climb inside this book and live there -- PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE This witty, fascinating book is a delight. Read it. * MIRIAM MARGOLYES *This captivating history explores the second generation of queer British writers and artists who pushed the original Bloomsbury Group . . . to live more publicly and go farther creatively * New York Times *Gender fluidity? Pansexuality? Throuples? Chosen families? Cross-dressing? Kinks? How avant-garde - and how old-fashioned. In her colourful Young Bloomsbury Nino Strachey explores a place and time when queer life blossomed * Washington Post *A superb, sparky and reflective book charting the doings of the younger members of the artistic and intellectual coterie * The Spectator *Enjoyably intimate and assured in tone . . . packs far more of an emotional punch than its title might suggest. Nino Strachey's strength as a biographer is to draw sensitive and non-judgemental portraits of people whose private agonies seemed at odds with their outwardly confident appearance. * TLS *Like Lytton Strachey and Michael Holroyd, Ms. Strachey underpins her narrative with concerns from her own time . . . these sections are the most affecting parts of the book . . . It's only a slight exaggeration to say that the story of Bloomsbury is the story of modern literary biography itself * Wall Street Journal *Illuminating . . . Lashings of lust and society larks * Daily Mail *A highly entertaining, pacy volume, based on considerable research, and a must for modern Bloomsbury fans, whether young or old. -- Jeremy Musson * Country Life *A lively account of a group of bright young things in the 1920s. A hundred years ahead of their time, these creative souls were pushing the boundaries of gender identity and sexual expression, and - surprisingly - finding acceptance among their friends and families. * ROBERT SACKVILLE-WEST, author of The Searchers: The Quest for the Lost of the First World War *Young Bloomsbury just BRIMS with the same kind of sexy vitality embodied by the characters Nino Strachey describes in such effervescent detail. Just when you might have wondered if there could possibly be room for a new and revealing study of a group of lives which have been so meticulously and extensively documented, Nino's exhilarating lens offers an entirely original and thrilling focus. As scepticism, admiration, envy, and confusion ebb and flow between one chattering, seductive, thinking, inspiring generation and another, this is Gatsby made real. * JULIET NICOLSON *With a deft turn of the Bloomsbury kaleidoscope, and an impressive gift for finding treasures in the archives, Nino Strachey reveals colourful new patterns of experiments in living which speak trenchantly to our own cultural moment. * MARK HUSSEY, author of Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism *Great fun and, for all fans of the Bloomsbury Group, enormously informative - like being transported back to "dancing the night hours away underground in the pitch dark and smoke-filled avant-garde nightclubs of that day", you never know who you're going to meet. * SIMON FENWICK, author of The Crichel Boys *An extraordinary account of the bustling non-binary heart of the literary and artistic roaring twenties, filled with the most vivid characters, who lived and loved under the shadow of the horror of conversion therapy and yet found ways to express themselves so boldly and beautifully. Young Bloomsbury gives new context to the later stages of life for the original Bloomsbury group. I loved every page. * JACK THORNE, BAFTA, Tony and Olivier Award-winning Screenwriter and Playwright *Above all else, Bloomsbury was a liberating force, as Nino Strachey shows in her sparkling new book. The younger friends and relations of the Bells, Stracheys and Woolfs lived, worked and loved freely, finding their own ways to personal and artistic fulfilment. This book is packed with their brilliant, subversive energy * ANNE CHISHOLM, author of Frances Partridge: A Biography *A brisk, light tonic . . . Joyfully transgressive . . . Strachey provides frothy accounts of their gatherings at the Gargoyle; or at the all-male Cranium Club, founded by Bunny Garnett, where sherry was sipped from a skull and conversation permitted only on "abstract and literary subjects"; or in private homes, like Gerald Reitlinger's, at which Lytton Strachey danced with Nancy Mitford, and young men writhed in orgiastic heaps * Harper’s Magazine *The book is a rich, varied world of competing narratives . . . one would struggle to imagine anyone doing each one justice with the skill and finesse that is demonstrated here * James T Bowen, Virginia Woolf Bulletin *

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Book SynopsisThe great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) is widely recognized as one of the most consequential human beings of the twentieth century. Through his writings and moral witness, he illumined the nature of totalitarianism and helped bring down an ‘evil empire.’ His courage and tenacity are acknowledged even by his fiercest critics. Yet the world-class novelist, historian, and philosopher (one uses the latter term in its capacious Russian sense) has largely been eclipsed by a caricature that has transformed a measured and self-critical patriot into a ferocious nationalist, a partisan of local self-government into a quasi-authoritarian, a man of faith and reason into a narrow-minded defender of Orthodoxy. The caricature, widely dispensed in the press, and too often taken for granted, gets in the way of a thoughtful and humane confrontation with the “other” Solzhenitsyn, the true Solzhenitsyn, who is a writer and thinker of the first rank and whose spirited defense of liberty is never divorced from moderation. It is to the recovery of this Solzhenitsyn that this book is dedicated. This book above all explores philosophical, political, and moral themes in Solzhenitsyn’s two masterworks, The Gulag Archipelago and The Red Wheel, as well as in his great European novel In the First Circle. We see Solzhenitsyn as analyst of revolution, defender of the moral law, phenomenologist of ideological despotism, and advocate of “resisting evil with force.” Other chapters carefully explore Solzhenitsyn’s conception of patriotism, his dissection of ideological mendacity, and his controversial, but thoughtful and humane discussion of the “Jewish Question” in the Russian – and Soviet twentieth century. Some of Solzhenitsyn’s later writings, such as the “binary tales” that he wrote in the 1990s, are subject to critically appreciative analysis. And a long final chapter comments on Solzhenitsyn’s July 2007 Der Spiegel interview, his last word to Russia and the West. He is revealed to be a man of faith and freedom, a patriot but not a nationalist, and a principled advocate of self-government for Russia and the West. A final Appendix reproduces the beautiful Introduction (“The Gift of Incarnation”) that the author’s widow, Natalia Solzhenitsyn, wrote to the 2009 Russian abridgment of The Gulag Archipelago, a work that is now taught in Russian high schools. Table of ContentsForeword Chapter 1 An Anguished’ Love of Country: Solzhenitsyn’s Paradoxical Middle Path The Ideological Deformation of Reality Recovering Truth and Memory A False Consensus A “Lucid” Love of Country An Exacting Patriotism A War on Two Fronts A New Mission Self–Inflicted Wounds The Pathologies of the Russian Right Orthodox Universalism: The Other Extreme The Question of Tone A Theorist of Self–Government Beyond Tired Polemics Chapter 2 “The Active Struggle Against Evil”: Reflections on a Theme in Solzhenitsyn Vorotyntsev and Stolypin A Pusillanimous Monarch Moral Freedom and Political Liberty The Soul of Man Under Socialism The Camp Revolts Resisting Evil With Force Chapter 3 Nicholas II and the Coming of Revolution Conclusion Chapter 4 The Artist as Thinker: Reflections In the First Circle The Three Pillars The Two Versions “But We Are Only Given One Conscience, Too” A Crucial Encounter The Decisive Metanoia Beyond Fanaticism and Skepticism The Remarkable Continuities of Sotzhenitsyn’s Reflection Chapter 5 A Phenomenology of Ideological Despotism: Reflections on Solzhenitsyn’s “Our Muzzled Freedom” An Introduction: Theorizing Totalitarianism The Soul and Barbed Wire “Free Life” in a Totalitarian Regime Constant Fear Secrecy and Mistrust Complicity in the Web of Repression Betrayal as a Form of Existence Corruption versus Nobility The Lie as a Form of Existence Class Cruelty Slave Psychology Conclusion: Remembering Everything Chapter 6 Two Critics of the Ideological “Lie”: Raymond Aron’s Encounter with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Letter to the Soviet Leaders A Parisian Encounter Solzhenitsyn and Sartre Misconceptions About Russia Two Spiritual Families? Chapter 7 Solzhenitsyn, Russia, and the Jews Revisited From Belligerence to Understanding Rejecting the Temptation to Blame Renegades and Revolutionaries The Fortunes of Soviet Jewry 131 Repentance and Responsibility Solzhenitsyn’s Moral Challenge The Holocaust Solzhenitsyn’s Non Possum Chapter 8 The Binary Tales: The Soul of Man in the Soviet –and Russian–Twentieth Century Chapter 9 Freedom, Faith and the Moral Foundations of Self–Government: Solzhenitsyn’s Final Word to Russia and the West A Life Rooted in Conscience A State Prize The Prospects for Repentance An Archival Revolution Two Revolutions Two Hundred Years Together Learning About the Past Three Leaders Building Democracy From the Bottom Up A Meaningful Opposition Parties and Popular Representation Making Room for Small Businesses A “National Idea”? Russia and the West The Future of Russian Literature The Church in Russia Today A Man of Faith and Reason Three Prayers An Encounter With the Polish Pope 1 Orthodoxy and the Neo–Pagan Temptation A Calm and Balanced Attitude Toward Death Notes Appendix 1 “Really Existing Socialism” and the Archival Revolution Wooden Words Red Holocaust Black Book Gulag Memoirs Testaments to Violence and Lies History and the Totalitarian Temptation Appendix 2 Introduction: Returning to ‘The Gulag’ The Gift of Incarnation Index

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Book SynopsisBarry Lopez had no illusions about the seriousness of our global crisis, yet he also felt a deep conviction about the power of hope and the sources of renewal in the living world. Syntax of the River is an extended conversation spanning three days between Lopez and Julia Martin in which he explores what this juxtaposition means for him as a writer.On the first day Lopez reflects on years watching the McKenzie River near his home in Oregon. He describes the quality of attention he learned from intimacy with the place itself: a very fine distinction between silence and stillness, the rich complexities of the present moment, and the syntax of interrelationships between living things. The second day is concerned with craft: the work of making sentences and books. Lopez shares his practical strategies for writing and revising a manuscript and goes on to speak about vulnerability. He says he often experienced a deep sense of doubt about his capacity to achieve whatever he was trying to do in a particular project. Over time, though, this characteristic experience of not-knowing became a kind of fuel for his work, and even a weapon at times.On the final day, Lopez ponders the idea of writing as a praxis, a way of life, even a prayer for the earth, while concurrently being terrified by the portents of its destruction. Here, the experience of being an attentive participant emerges as his core teaching. Over the decades he developed a practice of attention that was endlessly curious and enthralled by the living world, what he calls its pattern or syntax. Despite acclaim as a celebrated writer, throughout his career Lopez humbly tasked himself with making a combination of wonder and horror work together to effectively communicate a life journey of contemplation, exploration, and discovery.Trade Review“When a sensational writer delivers another outstanding work, it is a gift to all of us. When he manages to do so from beyond the grave, it’s another thing entirely. Something ethereal. That’s exactly what Barry Lopez gives us with Syntax of the River. On its surface, the book is simply the transcript of a 2010 conversation between writer-professor Julia Martin and Lopez, an outdoorsman — he told Martin he wasn’t a “naturalist” — and master of multiple genres of writing. Yet it brings to life mental images of something most of us have never seen: Oregon’s McKenzie River, Lopez’s sacred place.” — Washington Independant Review of Books

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Book SynopsisFascinating insight into the tempestuous life of one of our great poets through his letters, including those to the two great loves of his life. Featuring a bold new livery in celebration of the Dylan Thomas centenary.Dylan Thomas' letters to the many women in his life are among the mst emotive, lyrical and beautiful that he wrote. Full of humour, longing and uninhibited honesty, these letters include those written to his wife Caitlin and his childhood sweetheart, Vera Philips.

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Book SynopsisTom Wolfe's genre-defining magical mystery tour through the 1960s published in Vintage Classics for the first time to mark its fiftieth anniversary.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JARVIS COCKERIn the summer of 1964, author Ken Kesey and his Merry Band of Pranksters set out on an awesome social experiment like no other. Blazing across America in their day-glo schoolbus, doped up and deep ‘in the pudding’, the Pranksters’ arrival on the scene – anarchic, exuberant and LSD-infused – would turn on an entire counter-culture, and provide Tom Wolfe with the perfect free-wheeling subject for this, his pioneering masterpiece of New Journalism.'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is not simply the best book on the hippies, it is the essential book...the pushing, ballooning heart of the matter' New York TimesTrade ReviewThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is not simply the best book on the hippies, it is the essential book...the pushing, ballooning heart of the matter * New York Times *A life-changer, a rabble-rouser, a mind-blower, a gathering of the tribes, a call to arms, a manifesto for a new society, a car repair manual, a fly-on-the-paisley-patterned-wall account of a cultural revolution – a masterpiece! -- Jarvis CockerElectrifying * San Francisco Chronicle *An amazing book... A book that definitely gives Wolfe the edge on the nonfiction novel * The Village Voice *Every word seems placed with a care and a skill of contrivance... A major journalistic contribution to the future analysis of our own and America's strange period of this century * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisPolymath Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1913. But Tagore was much more than a writer. Through his poems, novels, short stories, poetic songs, dance-dramas and paintings, he transformed Bengali literature and Indian art. He was instrumental in bringing Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and strove to create a less divided society through mutual respect and understanding, like his great contemporary and close friend, Mahatma Gandhi. In this timely reappraisal of Tagore’s life and work, Bashabi Fraser assesses Tagore’s many activities and shows how he embodies the modern consciousness of India. She examines his ties to his upbringing in Bengal, his role in Indian politics and his interests in international relationships, as well as addressing some of the mis-readings of his life and work through a holistic perspective.

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Book SynopsisThe most celebrated French storyteller of the nineteenth century, Guy de Maupassant was a master of the modern short story. Offering an intriguing picture of French life, the enduring appeal of his stories derives from understated artistry, extreme craftsmanship and the universality of his characters and their aspirations and misfortunes. In this insightful and compelling biography, the only one in English currently available, Christopher Lloyd situates Maupassant’s life and work in the literary and social context of nineteenth-century France. Lloyd skilfully introduces the reader to Maupassant’s most famous works, such as Boule de suif, Bel-Ami and Pierre et Jean, as well as highlighting the important stages and achievements of his life and legacy.Table of Contents1 A Life 2 Journalist 3 Writer 4 Storyteller 5 Novelist 6 Ironist 7 Afterlives References Select Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisFederico Garcia Lorca is Spain's most famous writer, and an icon of its culture. He is the author of a series of innovative works that changed the face of Spanish poetry and drama. In this new biography Stephen Roberts seeks out the roots of the man and his work in the places in which Lorca lived and died: the Granadan countryside where he spent his childhood; the Granada and Madrid of the 1910s, '20s and '30s where he was educated and first achieved success as a writer; and the mountains outside Granada where his body lies in an undiscovered grave. The book provides a full portrait of a complex and brilliant man, as well as giving new insights into the works that made his name.Trade Review“Deep Song is rich with Lorca’s words and makes one eager to revisit them. . . . Lorca is an intensely mythologized figure, and Roberts is careful not to tell the story of this life in teleological terms, unfolding towards the tragedy of Lorca’s assassination of the hands of nationalist militia. Roberts deals with sexuality, class, religion, and politics, but not in such a way that sees these things as inevitable precursors to Lorca’s later life. Rather, we get a vision of Lorca as joyous, complex, and experimental, trying his hand at different forms, obsessions, and the possibilities of his art. . . . Deep Song [is] richly textured with Lorca’s own words, and makes for a flowing, thoroughly enjoyable introduction to the life as a lived and passionate thing.” * Irish Times *"There is a swift, sharp style that gives the concise biography major appeal. It's a good entry point to Lorca's work. Roberts also provides a nice mix of analytical theory on Lorca's poems and plays alongside colorful kiss-and-tell gossip from Lorca's adventurous, libidinous pursuits. Some caused more heartache and stress than others. An obsessional crush on Salvador Dali went on for many years, but Lorca could never quite sweet-talk the surrealist painter into bed." * Sunday Independent (Ireland) *"Roberts's new study of the life and work of the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca is profoundly faithful in spirit to the poet's plays and poetry and the complex background from which his works emanated. . . . The 240-page work is biographical in large part, but Roberts's vision never loses sight of the work, endlessly illuminating Lorca's simple yet oftentimes obscure art. In short, Deep Song is the perfect point of entry for beginning to understand the entire picture." -- Paddy Kehoe * RTE Culture *“It takes a certain confidence and clarity of intent to present a new biographical offering about such a well-known and vivid figure, with the faces of worthy predecessors gazing down like Lorca’s floating face in Salvador Dalí’s paintings. . . . For those whose interest includes the details of how Lorca’s writing came to be and how it is linked to daily life and culture where he lived, Roberts offers a rewarding tour that, however detailed, never gets tedious. . . . Roberts makes clear that Lorca was uniquely positioned in time and space to be the great flame of literature that he became, as he gathered artifacts of rural and religious culture, in some cases filtering his writing through a remarkable array of creative friends and acquaintances.” * Gay & Lesbian Review *“Roberts makes a useful addition to the body of biographical treatments of the great Spanish poet and playwright. Deftly assessing Garci´a Lorca's development as an artist, beginning with his earliest poetry as a teenager in Granada, Rogers examines the writer's artistic experimentation once he installed himself in Madrid and later as he traveled to New York, Cuba, and Buenos Aires. Of particular interest is the examination of the early work, seen by Roberts as testimony to a conflicted relationship with the narrow bourgeois perspective of Garci´a Lorca's natal city of Granada. Roberts makes good use of a concept he calls the ‘psychogeographical’ as he ponders the young poet's keen interest in the environment of Andalucía and its Moorish past, and he provides useful insights about Garci´a Lorca’s debt to modernismo—especially the work of Rubén Darío and the poetry of the Siglo de Oro. Most useful is the analysis of Garci´a Lorca’s work as he transitioned from child prodigy to accomplished writer in the span of his short life (he died in 1936, at the age of 38), becoming in fact a pivotal figure in the influential Generación del ’27 group. . . . Recommended.” * Choice *“This book belongs to the conventional ‘life and works’ genre that presents a relatively brief general overview of a writer’s biography and literary output. Lorca is hardly ill-served when it comes to works of this sort, but this one now supersedes many of them and stands among the best. . . . Deep Song will provide for the general interested reader a lively and often evocative account of Spain’s best-known twentieth-century writer, and should inspire them to delve more deeply into Lorca’s life and, particularly, his work.” * Bulletin of Spanish Studies *"In a relatively short volume, Roberts is able to provide a concise yet comprehensive account of both Lorca and his work, along with a clear sense of the historical context which shaped them." -- Federico Bonaddio, King's College London, editor of "A Companion to Federico García Lorca""Roberts skillfully fashions the biography of García Lorca's short life into a seamless continuum, divided into eight brief periods with vivid attention to geographic settings. As distinguished from other biographies, Roberts's take a close-up, intimate view of this poet-playwright, portraying him as a kind of Lorca from within. At this same time, this intimate vision does not eschew the broader social picture with rarely considered economic tensions that help account for Lorca's ignominious liquidation." -- Nelson Orringer, University of Connecticut, author of "Lorca in Tune with Falla""In this beautifully written, sensitive book, Roberts moves fluidly and intelligently from biography to oeuvre through a keen sense of the evocations of place. In this way, we are immersed into the worlds occupied by Lorca in such a way as to capture a sensual and intimate understanding of the enduring significance of Lorca’s life and work." -- Sarah Wright, Royal Holloway, University of London

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Book SynopsisJohn Donne: In the Shadow of Religion explores the life of one of the most significant figures of the English Renaissance. The book not only provides an overview of Donne’s life and work, but connects his writing and thinking to the ideas, institutions and networks that influenced him. The book shows how Donne’s faith underpinned his career, from aspirational courtier to phenomenally successful clergyman and preacher, when he became dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Donne emerges as a figure obsessed with himself, tormented by the fear that his transgressions may have condemned him to eternal damnation. This fine new account uses Donne’s correspondence, writing and poetry to give a rounded portrait of a bold, experimental thinker, who was never afraid of taking risks that few others would have countenanced.Trade Review"Hadfield evidently has wide knowledge of the period." * Sunday Times *“The great achievement of Hadfield’s book, and what sets it apart, is how convincingly it connects the seemingly disparate strands of Donne’s life and work—his lifelong struggle with matters of the soul, his paradoxical erotic and religious poetry, his marriage, his friendships, his sermons—allowing us to see above all Donne the brilliant and restless thinker.” -- James Shapiro, author of "1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare"“Hadfield’s exemplary study of John Donne—a notoriously ‘difficult’ writer—is lucid and informative, yet always ready to probe towards new interpretations. Exploring lesser-known corners of Donne’s extensive output, he celebrates the ‘capacious and interconnected’ imagination of this complex, charismatic figure.” -- Charles Nicholl, author of “The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street”

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Book SynopsisIn 1912 the young Frederic-Louis Sauser arrived in France, carrying an experimental poem and a new identity: Blaise Cendrars was born. Over the next half-century, Cendrars wrote innovative poems, novels, essays, film scripts and autobiographical prose. His ground-breaking books and collaborations with artists such as Sonia Delaunay and Fernand Leger remain astonishingly modern today. Cendrars's writings reflect his insatiable curiosity, his vast knowledge which was largely self-taught, and his love of everyday life. In this new account Eric Robertson examines Cendrars's work against a turbulent historical background and reassesses his contribution to twentieth-century literature. Robertson shows how Cendrars is as relevant today as ever before, and deserves a wider readership in the English-speaking world.

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Book SynopsisMina Loy was born in London in 1882, became American, and lived variously in New York, Europe, and finally, Aspen, Colorado until she died in 1966. Flamboyant and unapologetically avant-garde, she was a painter, poet, novelist, essayist, manifesto-writer, actress, and dress and lampshade designer. Her life involved an impossible abundance of artistic friends, performance and spectacular adventures in the worlds of Futurism, Christian Science, Feminism, Fashion, and everything modern and modernist. This new account by Mary Ann Caws explores Mina Loy's exceptional life, and features many rare images of Loy and her husband, the swiss writer, poet, artist, boxer and provocateur Arthur Cravan, who disappeared without trace in 1918.Trade Review'Reading Mary Ann Caws' book today reminds me of the excitement I felt when I first encountered Mina Loy's writing nearly fifty years ago. Mina Loy is not for everyone, I wrote at the time. She is an acquired habit. But if she gets into your system, you may become addicted. In fact you may not ever get over her, in which case this charismatic book will not help you. It will only make withdrawal more difficult.' - Roger Conover, writer, editor and Mina Loy's literary executor

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Book SynopsisIn this new book, David Ellis traces Byron’s life from rented lodgings in Aberdeen to the crumbling splendours of Newstead Abbey and then on to his grand tour of the East. Describing his exile from England after a disastrous marriage, and subsequent travels in Italy and Greece, he shows how completely Byron’s experiences coloured his writings, drawing out the tension between the ‘serious’ works (Childe Harold, The Corsair) and his more comic writings. Although the former brought him early fame and fortune, it is the latter which now seem most worthwhile. Byron is a fresh, concise and clear-eyed account of the flamboyant poet’s life and work.

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Book SynopsisNumerous books have attempted to chronicle the life of Dante Alighieri, yet essential questions remain unanswered. How did this self-taught Florentine become the celebrated author of the Divine Comedy? Was his exile from Florence so extraordinary? How did Dante make himself the main protagonist in his works, in a literary context that advised against it? And why has his life interested so many readers? In Dante's New Lives, eminent scholars Elisa Brilli and Giuliano Milani answer these questions and many more. Their account reappraises Dante's life and work by assessing archival and literary evidence and examining the most recent scholarship. The book is a model of interdisciplinary biography, as fascinating as it is rigorous.Table of ContentsAbbreviations and Works Cited Preface Prologue: Lineages 1 Adolescence 2 Youth in Florence 3 Youth in Exile 4 Old Age Epilogue: Legacies References Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisSamuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, is one of the most famous writers in American (and world) literature. Twain had a fascinating life that began in hardship in 1835 (only three of his seven siblings survived childhood) and ended shortly before the First World War. Best known for his writing, Twain was also a gifted raconteur, entrepreneur, publisher, freemason, and lecturer across a very busy life that saw him patent inventions, go bankrupt and receive a PhD from Oxford University, all the while putting out an enormous volume of superbly written literary work.Twain also recorded some of the most biting commentary and criticism of politics and culture and is famous for his brilliant words, aphorisms, one-liners and sayings. He was never a man stuck for words, and he lived through one of the most amazing eras of politics, social and scientific change and evolution. Many of his words are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago and plenty of his classic phrases grace the pages of The Little Book of Mark Twain, alongside numerous extracts from his writings, as well as comment and criticism from his contemporaries, fans and followers. It adds up to a superb overview of the man, his character, his writing and his incredible talent.SAMPLE QUOTE: 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.' - Mark TwainSAMPLE FACT: Twain was very close friends with Nikola Tesla and they worked together in Tesla's laboratory.Table of ContentsLife: Twain's life was interesting, and we start with quotes, comments, facts and stats by and about him, including plenty of observations by the man himself. Literature: Quotations from Twain's best (and little-) known works, as well as excerpts from his most famous novels and other writings, including his early journalism and travelogues and memoir. Also includes comments from other authors, critics, politicians and famous figures of the era. Science: A man with a keen interest in the scientific events and inventions of the time, this chapter includes quotes, comments and facts from Twain himself, as well as his friend Nikola Tesla and others. Business: A prominent businessman, Twain had plenty to say on the subject, and, as a man who had seen great success as well as failure, his words are often wise witty and poignant. Views: Twain was interested in many subjects, particularly politics, civil rights, imperialism, religion and many other important matters of the day. This chapter contains interesting excerpts from some of his writings, as well as some of his many comments and those of his critics and other famous figures. Wit and Wisdom: A general roundup of fun, factual and fascinating quotes from Mark Twain and many of his contemporaries, as well as subsequent fans, critics and commentators.

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Book SynopsisW. B. Yeats believed that a poet's life should be an experiment in living. His poems fashion into memorable words the sometimes puzzling emotions that hover over important life events. Yeats's remarkable work can clarify our own thinking about similar situations. Joseph M. Hassett's Yeats Now: Echoing into Life extracts and distils the rich harvest of Yeats's experiment. As Yeats's biographer Roy Foster comments, Yeats Now is 'a personal, quizzical, imaginative testament that ranges through Yeats's thought and writings, showcasing and discussing a series of ringing statements, suggestions and aphorisms that evolve into a kind of vade-mecum or guide to life. The subjects cover love, anger, friendship, politics, violence and the competing claims of perfecting the life, or the work'. This book is a wonderful companion to the work of this significant poet. Hassett's writing provides an excellent frame of context through which to explore one of Ireland's greatest poets.Trade ReviewHassett seeks always to restore the full poetic and personal context to many famous lines. … The result is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable books on Yeats ever to call forth the skills of a gifted designer [a]nd of a true critic. -- Declan Kiberd * Dublin Review of Books *Subtle and often illuminating study of what we can learn from Yeats … and how we can let his words echo in our own lives. -- Michael O'Loughlin * Irish Times *Thought-provoking, a fresh, accessible look at the shimmering legacy of WB Yeats in all its wonder and poise. -- Paddy Kehoe * RTE *This is a handsome and stylish book, both in looks and, more importantly, in its capacity to appreciate the magic of William Butler Yeats’s poetry. -- Michael Langan * NBC-2 *I can’t think of a more inspiring way to fill the unforgiving minute than to read this book, to be renewed and invigorated by Yeats’ relevance today – Now – and to rediscover the nobility of his poetry, the endurance of his hope. -- Anne Cunningham * Anne Cunningham Blog *

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Book SynopsisThis novel by Maylis Besserie, the first of her Irish trilogy, shows us Samuel Beckett at the end of his life in 1989, living in Le Tiers-Temps retirement home. It is as if Beckett has come to live in one of his own stage productions, peopled with strange, unhinged individuals, waiting for the end of days. Yell, Sam, If You Still Can is filled with voices. From diary notes to clinical reports to daily menus, cool medical voices provide a counterpoint to Beckett himself, who reflects on his increasingly fragile existence. He remains playful, rueful, and aware of the dramatic irony that has brought him to live in the room next door to Winnie, surrounded by grotesques like Hamm or Lucky, abandoned by his wife Suzanne who died before him. Besserie delights in Beckett’s bilingualism and plays back and forth between the francophone and anglophone properties of language, summoning James Joyce as Beckett reminisces about evenings the two spent together singing, talking and drinking. Largely written in the library of the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Besserie has kept the hum of Irish voices throughout this work. Yell, Sam, If You Still Can won the “Goncourt du premier roman”, the prestigious French literary prize for first time novelists, just before the country went into lockdown. Besserie is now planning a further two novels that will explore the links between Ireland and France and is touted as the new star of the French literary world. Financial Times Book of the Year 2022Trade Review‘Maylis Besserie and her translator Clíona Ní Ríordáin create Beckett's inner voice so convincingly in the novel that at times you think it might have been written by the man himself.’ Judge David Mills, Scott Moncrieff Prize Recounting the last days of a writer whose main subject was finitude is a challenge. Maylis Besserie pulls off the exercise with finesse. -- Virginie Block-Lainé * Elle *The last months of Samuel Beckett’s life are tested by the inner voice of the writer in the retirement home where he ended his life. Lunar and poignant. -- Antoine Perraud * La Croix *The author uses her radio-producing skills to create a polyphonic world with a collage of distinct and interweaving documents and voices. -- Kathleen Shields * Dublin Review of Books *remarkable ... [Besserie] carries it off so convincingly, with such elan and poetic force ... she evokes, subtly and with great skill, a fitting intensity, bleak lyricism and black humour ... Yell, Sam, If You Still Can is the work of a writer already in command of a resonant style and a broad artistic reach JOHN BANVILLE, THE GUARDIAN'imaginative, informed, magnificently written book about Samuel Beckett's last days in a Parisian nursing home ... full of Beckettian gallows humour' ANNE CUNNINGHAM, MEATH CHRONICLE'genuinely impressive ... heartfelt emotion and sincerity are alternated with bathetic absurdity to dizzying but wonderful effect ... experimental, bold, and polyphonic ... a thought-provoking and powerful achievement.' Eva Wall, Curiouser Books'Besserie generates a pleasing mixture of black humour and occasional lyrical intensity. Credit here must also go to Clíona Ní Ríordáin, for her adroit translation ... [a] provocative, intriguing, rewarding and audacious act of imagination' Eoghan Smith, Books IrelandFINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR‘Remarkable’ SUNDAY INDEPENDENT‘Seriously impressive … the action bounces between Paris and Ireland and is remarkably evocative … this exquisite, moving, and ambitious book would be a great present for any fiction reader in your life.’ SARAH HARTE, IRISH EXAMINERA captivating and emotionally charged narrative. MIDIA MOHAMMADI, IRISH INDEPENDENT

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Book SynopsisThe legendary Austro-Hungarian novelist and essayist, Joseph Roth, was born in Ukraine in 1894 and died tragically in Paris in 1939. These letters span the breadth of Roth's life, from the schoolboy to the veteran of 44, marked by war, poverty, alcoholism, the loss of his wife through madness, and two decades of prolific work. It is a deeply moving portrait of the life of the writer as an outsider, in exile from a world he no longer recognized as his own.

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Book SynopsisMany English-speaking people who want to be educated try to read Dante, the 'best known, least read' of all the classical poets, and find him impossible. In my thirties I did just that: 'Where do I begin?' The library yielded a translation of 'The Divine Comedy' - a great fat epic in three volumes. Wading into the Inferno, I struggled through a couple of sections and decided this wasn't for me. Too gloomy, too stilted, too difficult to grasp - and above all - too many words. I gave up almost at once. I cannot be the only one who as a result of that kind of experience thinks the work of this great Master is exclusively about Hell. 'Dante? - oh, you mean Dante's Inferno!' they say. NO! That's not it. There's far, far more. Dante wrote in Italian in order to reach ordinary people who, like me, needed the story itself. He wrote in the vernacular about the famous of the time - well-known entertainers and politicians, poets and artists, churchmen and musicians, the great and the awful. He wanted to be understood by everyone, including those not too well-versed in Latin. 'What a story this is,' I thought, when finally I was properly introduced to it. 'Why don't we all know this story? Dante is so warm-hearted, so exciting, so full of hope and humour, justice and joy - but, like me, my friends hardly ever get into Hell, let alone out of it and on.' My aim is to tell Dante's story in the way I remember it - not primarily for its history, or its theology, or even its most gracious poetry, but for the unfolding journey he made through those amazing landscapes. It was all in his imagination, yet so vividly brought to life in his poem that irresistibly it invites us to accompany him on a life-changing, life-saving adventure of our own. The tale begins when, depressed and lost in a Dark Wood, Dante meets Virgil, his hero among much earlier poets. At the request of Beatrice - his great love, now in Heaven - Virgil has come from Limbo to guide him on a huge journey. Sure enough, they start by going down through Hell; but they emerge, ascend the Mountain of Purgatory through many adventures, and rise to the threshold of Paradise. There, human knowledge fails and Virgil leaves him. Meeting people all the way, he flies on into Heaven with Beatrice, and up through the stars to God. I hope that by travelling with him, we too may come to find in the poetry something of the depth of the vision. I hope we may come to love Dante as a person, with all his directness, his immense compassion for those he meets on the way, and his chuckling ability to laugh at himself. I hope we shall rejoice that his passion for Beatrice, who leads him through Heaven, is at last so blissfully fulfilled in the divine. May our own landscape of the mind be enhanced - even transformed - by the journey.Trade ReviewWith love, wisdom and devotion Hazel Marshall has created a uniquely accessible adaptation of Dante's epic journey that will bring it within reach of many who might otherwise not set forth at all. Brava! - as the Italians say, Brava! ; Anne Maria Clarke ; Author, writer and performing artist. ; 'Dante went for a walk.' Hazel's opening sentence draws us into a vivid story as we accompany Dante through, and then beyond, the depths and heights of human experience. Prompted at intervals to ask ourselves how we would feel in each situation that arises, we are gently invited to engage ever more fully with the transpersonal dimension of our lives. This is an enriching endeavour and one which will stand the test of time. ; Monica Anthony, UKCP Reg., RCST. ; Transpersonal psychotherapist, craniosacral therapist. ; Hazel has an inspirational ability to entice us to travel life's journey, and to understand it differently. This book is a beautifully new approach to that journey, showing us hope, and the transcending, healing power of love. ; Pamela Allsop, Transpersonal psychotherapist and artist. ; www.pamelallsop.comTable of ContentsDedication & Frontispiece Preface Contents Introduction PART 1: THROUGH THE INFERNO 1 THE DARK FOREST 2 VIRGIL 3 GOING DOWN 4 PAOLO AND FRANCESCA 5 MEDUSA AND THE ANGEL 6 THE BURNING CITY OF DIS 7 CENTAURS AND HARPIES 8 GERYON AND THE ABYSS 9 FROM ULYSSES TO THE GIANTS 10 THE PIT OF HELL PART 2: UP THE MOUNTAIN OF PURGATORY 11 THE SHIP OF SOULS 12 THE CLIMB BEGINS 13 ST. PETER'S GATE 14 STICKS AND CARROTS 15 THE ANGRY SOULS 16 THE BONE IDLE AND THE COVETOUS 17 THE GREEDY ARE PURGED 18 THE ANGEL OF CHASTITY 19 THE RIVER LETHE 20 THE RIVER OF GOOD REMEMBRANCE PART 3: INTO PARADISE 21 FLYING TO THE MOON 22 TO MERCURY: THE EMPEROR AND THE LAW 23 TO VENUS: ROUND PEGS FOR ROUND HOLES 24 IN THE REALM OF THE SUN 25 THE CROSS OF MARTIAL SOULS 26 JUPITER AND THE EAGLE 27 SATURN AND THE LADDER 28 UP TO THE STARS 29 THE PRIMUM MOBILE 30 THE EMPYREAN Epilogue Acknowledgments Credits Bibliography Illustrations Index

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Book SynopsisWhen Alejandro Luque receives a book of photographs taken in Sicily by the Argentinian writer, essayist, and poet Luis Borges, he decides to trace the writer's journey, setting off with a group of friends on his own Sicilian odyssey. Meticulously identifying the location of each photograph, Luque uses Borges's pictures to imagine the range of emotions that the renowned writer felt as he experienced the same views. As his hunt for the locations of the original photographs unfolds, Luque chronicles the ways in which he begins to fall in love with both the island itself and with his friend, Ro. This winding journey features literati both past and present, indigenous and foreign. These characters live alongside Luque's own comments and observations in a narrative that is rich in historical and personal detail. The writer who inspired this great journey, Borges himself, becomes a character in this narrative that is infused with extracts and reflections from his essays and poetry. Borges in Sicily acts as a travel diary, a guide to the most fascinating places in Sicily, a recounting of Borges's journey around the island, and a deeply poetic story of Luque's own adventures. The book also includes twenty-three photographs from the renowned Magnum photographer Ferdinando Scianna, and it won the 1st Premio International del Libros de Viajes.

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Book SynopsisA lost and now found memoir of J.B. Priestleywritten by someone who knew him better than most others: his own personal secretary. Written in the 1980s, though never published, the manuscript has only recently resurfaced. It provides a unique, warm and intimate portrait of the private, hidden life, of one of the twentieth century's most widely read authors and great public figures. The book reveals Priestley's daily routines, his writing habits, hobbies, weaknesses, eccentricities and his correspondence with a variety of organisations and people, including family, and other renowned authors and figures of the twentieth century; a warts and all portrait, truthful, revealing, moving. A book which in the end, displays great love for its subject. It is a memoir that also reveals the somewhat old-fashioned role of a live-in personal secretary / assistant to an author and the close relationship that develops with such a job. KISSING TREE HOUSE Kissing Tree House is the name of the house where Priestley and his wife, the archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes, lived from December 1959 until his death in 1984. The house is in the small village of Alveston about four miles from Stratford. Of historical interest, the house has been a listed property since 1972. Listing NGR: SP2344156412 Priestley had many guests and held many dinner parties at Kissing Tree; he was visited there by many famous figures. "One day I very much hope that Mrs. Batten will write a book about me because, as I have pointed out to her, she knows me better than anyone else who might want to write such a book" J.B. Priestley, 26th June, 1979

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Book SynopsisThe first and collection of Virginia Woolf's most inspirational quotes. 'No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.' Over 100 words of wisdom from the inimitable Virginia Woolf on love, literature, feminism, food, work, ageing, authenticity, nature, truth, happiness and everything in between, carefully selected and curated from Woolf's timeless novels, essays and speeches. A celebration of one of the world's best loved writers and a true feminist icon, in a beautifully packaged, small-format gift book.

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Book SynopsisDuring his 1920s heyday, Arnold Bennett was one of Britain’s most celebrated writers. As the author of The Old Wives’ Tale and Clayhanger he was a household name, writing just as much for the common man as London’s literati. His face was plastered over theatre hoardings and the sides of West End omnibuses. His life represents the ultimate rags-to-riches story of a man who ‘banged on the door of Fortune like a weekly debt collector’ as one of his obituaries so vividly put it. Yet for all his success, few were aware how cursed Bennett felt by his life-long stutter and other debilitating character traits. In the years running up to his death in 1931, his affairs were close to collapse as he fought a losing battle on three fronts: with his estranged wife; with his disenchanted mistress; and from a literary perspective with Virginia Woolf. As the first full length biography of Bennett since 1974, the work draws on a wealth of unpublished diaries and letters to shed new light on a personality who can be considered a ‘Lost Icon’ of early Twentieth Century Britain.Trade Review“Hated by Woolf, but this life of Arnold Bennett proves the literary snobs wrong” The Sunday Times “Excellent book” A.N Wilson, The Spectator "First-rate biography" Roger Lewis, Daily Mail "sheds new light" Margaret Drabble, The Times Literary Supplement "This excellent book puts Bennett back on the map" Simon Heffer, The Telegraph "absorbing biography" D J Taylor, Literary Review "a work that must now displace [Margaret Drabble's] as the standard account of the novelist's life" Revd Dr John Pridmore, Church Times

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Book SynopsisArtaud the Mômo is Antonin Artaud’s most extraordinary poetic work from the brief final phase of his life, from his return to Paris in 1946 after nine years of incarceration in French psychiatric institutions to his death in 1948. This work is an unprecedented anatomical excavation carried through in vocal language, envisioning new gestural futures for the human body in its splintered fragments. With black humor, Artaud also illuminates his own status as the scorned, Marseille-born child-fool, the “mômo” (a self-naming that fascinated Jacques Derrida in his writings on this work). Artaud moves between extreme irreligious obscenity and delicate evocations of his immediate corporeal perception and his sense of solitude. The book’s five-part sequence ends with Artaud’s caustic denunciation of psychiatric institutions and of the very concept of madness itself. This edition is translated by Clayton Eshleman, the acclaimed foremost translator of Artaud’s work. This will be the first edition since the original 1947 publication to present the work in the spatial format Artaud intended. It also incorporates eight original drawings by Artaud—showing reconfigured bodies as weapons of resistance and assault—which he selected for that edition, after having initially attempted to persuade Pablo Picasso to collaborate with him. Additional critical material draws on Artaud’s previously unknown manuscript letters written between 1946 and 1948 to the book’s publisher, Pierre Bordas, which give unique insights into the work from its origins to its publication.Trade Review"Artaud the Mômo is a fierce collection." * Chicago Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisStep into the extraordinary life of the man who made an impact as an observer wherever he lived, and went on to become the leading western interpreter of Japan and Japanese culture—a position he still occupies today.Born in Greece and abandoned as a child, Lafcadio Hearn lived the life of an exile. He travelled the world and became a famous writer but always felt like an outsider—in Dublin, London, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and French-speaking Martinique. To him, none of these places felt like home.Hearn's life in America was punctuated by a string of successes and failures. In Cincinnati he became the city's best-known crime reporter but was fired after marrying a black woman. Devastated, he moved to New Orleans, where he championed French Creole and Caribbean culture and created the city's image as a place of voodoo and debauchery (the image which many Americans still hold today).Hearn arrived in Japan at a time of historic change. Sent there as a correspondent, he soon found himself alone and jobless. He settled in the remote town of Matsue, firmly believing that Japan would provide him with an endless supply of rich writing material—perhaps enough to last a lifetime. Over the next dozen years, Hearn published 15 books which were lauded by the likes of Mark Twain, William Butler Yeats, Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin. Hearn's books made him famous as the leading writer on Japan and Japanese culture.Discover the fascinating journey of Hearn's life and the series of events—from peaks to pitfalls—that shaped his remarkable story, including: His troubled childhood and emigration to America with no job or money His career as a popular newspaper writer and essayist in Cincinnati and New Orleans His life in Japan where he became a Buddhist, married the daughter of a Samurai and took the Japanese name Yakumo Koizumi Hearn's worldwide fame as a writer, especially for his works on ghosts, demons, monsters and the supernatural world of Japanese folklore Author Steve Kemme is president of the Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA and a leading expert on Hearn's life and writings. This book includes a foreword by Bon Koizumi, Hearn's great-grandson and director of the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum in Matsue, Japan, along with 30 images which portray the pivotal people and places in Hearn's amazing life.Trade Review"My passion for Japan began with Lafcadio Hearn." —Henry Miller"Hearn's writing was not only true on the surface but in depth; not only to his conscious thinking but also to the submerged feelings that gave their rhythms to his prose…Long before coming to Japan he had shown an instinct for finding in legends the permanent archetypes of human experience--that is the secret of their power to move us--and he later proved that he knew which tales to choose and which details to emphasize, in exactly the right English." —Malcolm Cowley"I had read a book about Japan by Lafcadio Hearn, and what he wrote about Japanese culture and their theatre aroused my desire to go there." —Charlie Chaplin

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Book SynopsisPlutarch's Lives Vol 2, written by the ancient Greek historian and biographer Plutarch, is a captivating collection of biographies that offers deep insights into the lives of prominent figures from Greek and Roman history. This second volume serves as a continuation of Plutarch's comprehensive examination of notable individuals and explores the parallel lives of influential personalities. The biographies in Plutarch's Lives Vol 2 go beyond mere historical accounts, as Plutarch employs a blend of factual information and insightful anecdotes to paint vivid portraits of these illustrious individuals. With its rich historical context, engaging storytelling, and philosophical underpinnings, Plutarch's Lives Vol 2 stands as a timeless work that continues to captivate readers, offering profound wisdom and a window into the lives of extraordinary men.

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Book SynopsisQuesting was Sherlock Holmes’s business. He famously adopted the latest forensic techniques, channelled the Victorian passion for enquiry, kept abreast of the key scientific breakthroughs of his age, and conducted his investigations in an enigmatic and stylised manner. And the brains behind it all was, of course, the great Arthur Conan Doyle. In this deep dive into the contemporary world of Holmes and Conan Doyle, biographer Andrew Lycett explores all that encompasses the world of the great detective – tracing the infamous character’s own interests, personality and mythologised biography alongside that of his creator’s. From the Victorian crazes for detection and séance, to contemporary developments in science and psychology, Lycett weaves together everything that inspired Conan Doyle in creating the world’s most famous detective and one of fictiTrade Review"I’ve seen lots of books about everyone’s favorite consulting detective ...none more elegant or beautifully produced. A profusion of illustrations, as well as text by Lycett, one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s best biographers, will brighten Christmas morning for any would-be Baker Street Irregular." -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *We can't say enough good things about it. It is a piece of art. It is lovely to hold, lovely to flip through. It is so well-written. The flow as Andrew takes us through the evolution of Sherlock Holmes in the world and what the world contributed to Sherlock Holmes... This is one of those books that every Sherlockian needs to own. -- Scott Monty, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere podcast * Scott Monty, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere podcast *"Lycett provides an impressive and colorfully-illustrated discussion of how Holmes was created, and why he continues to fascinate each new generation of readers." -- Peter Blau * Scuttlebuts *“This companion embarks on a lively tour of the politics, cultural and social circumstances of Holmes’s era [and] takes us inside Holmes’s mind, a mix of imagination to read a criminal’s intentions with a scientific approach to solving riddles…We discover what lies behind that famous image, the man who created him and the world into which both were born and shaped by.” -- Dan Carrier * Camden New Journal *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION A SHERLOCKIAN SENSE OF PLACE BRITAIN AND THE WIDER WORLD THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE WATCHING THE DETECTIVES SCREEN AND STAGE REPRESENTATIONS GETTING INTO PRINT ART IN THE BLOOD A FEW ATHLETIC TASTES STAYING THE COURSE POSTSCRIPT CHRONOLOGY OF CONAN DOYLE AND WORLD EVENTS CHRONOLOGY OF HOLMES AND WATSON FURTHER READING INDEX PICTURE CREDITS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Book SynopsisJohn Nathan provides a lucid and vivid account of Natsume Sōseki, the father of the modern novel in Japan. This biography elevates Sōseki to his rightful place as a great synthesizer of literary traditions and a brilliant chronicler of universal experience who, no less than his Western contemporaries, anticipated twentieth-century modernism.Trade ReviewNathan, a master translator and a gifted storyteller. . . . paints a portrait of this singular man based mostly on primary sources, accompanied by convincing textual analyses of the novelist’s representative works. The result is an accessible account of a tortured, difficult, and yet ultimately irresistible soul that is touching even to those who are not yet familiar with the pleasures of Sōseki’s writing. -- Eri Hotta * Times Literary Supplement *[Natsume Sōseki's] life and work are explored insightfully in John Nathan’s outstanding and cohesive literary biography. -- Eileen Battersby * Financial Times *Comprehensive and discerning. . . . A revealing portrait of a writer who deserves a new audience. * Kirkus Reviews *A compelling narrative of this complicated man....Recommended. * Choice *Sōseki captures the soul of Japan’s greatest modern writer in the best tradition of biography. Here the venerated figure comes fully alive with his infuriating failings and astounding intelligence, his maddening ambitions and biting self-deprecations. The book also offers a vibrant portrayal of Japan’s rapidly transforming society—an extraordinary feast. -- Minae Mizumura, author of Inheritance from MotherA vivid portrait of Sōseki’s anxious and troubled life, of his violent mood swings, as well as of the chaos that constantly lurked just below the surface, ready to explode at any moment. -- Martin LaFlamme * Japan Times *A vibrant portrayal of the transformation of a modern Japan as witnessed through the story of one of that country’s best writers. * International Examiner *A fine biographical work that also helpfully covers Sōseki's major works in quite good depth, Sōseki is a solid and interesting biography -- M.A. Orthofer * Complete Review *Anyone with an interest in Japanese literature will enjoy the book. Not only is it a nice introduction to his work, but it also provides fascinating insights into a life cut short. As such, Sōseki: Modern Japan’s Greatest Novelist is a work to be recommended, an easy read about a great writer. * Tony's Reading List *[An] illuminating biography. . . . Nathan’s incisive portrait of Sōseki as a troubled yet widely celebrated literary game changer—his image adorned the ¥1,000 banknote in 1984—will likely drive new readers to his fiction. * Publishers Weekly *All the varied accomplishments of this man who's often considered Japan's greatest writer, together with his many shortcomings, are put in perspective and context by literary scholar John Nathan. Sōseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist provides a literary biography of the finest sort: an engaging, reasonably paced narrative of Sōseki 's life punctuated by just enough literary analysis to render the book intellectually important as well. -- Hans Rollman * PopMatters *In John Nathan’s excellent and very readable new biography, Sōseki: Modern Japan’s Greatest Novelist, the first English-language biography of the writer’s life in fifty years, we are given a portrait of a complex, troubled individual who spent his career resisting black-and-white interpretations. -- Angela Qian * Cha: An Asian Literary Journal *This biography and literary study describes a difficult, demanding man, plagued by poor physical and mental health, yet one who was also a master stylist with an extraordinary gift. * Times Higher Education *Nathan offers a lucid view of the life and works of the writer many consider to be Japan’s most important, and best, novelist. He deftly shows how Sōseki's life reflects the many social and intellectual changes that occurred over the tumultuous decades of his lifetime—decades of Japan’s transformation into a modern nation. -- Alan Tansman, University of California, BerkeleyIt’s been half a century since the appearance of the most recent English-language biography of Natsume Sōseki, one of the giants of twentieth-century world literature, so the arrival of John Nathan’s fine new study is cause for celebration. Sōseki's life story often reads like one of his novels, and Nathan captures it in prose worthy of his subject. -- Michael Bourdaghs, University of ChicagoJohn Nathan has certainly shown in this biography why Sōseki is such an important figure in Japanese literature, as well as demonstrating that he can hold his own with the best novelists the West have to offer. * Asian Review of Books *John Nathan has given us a robust portrayal of Sōseki’s aesthetic practices and what they meant for his life and his work. His thoughtful readings, always grounded in his own aesthetic and emotional response and further honed through translation, provide an inspiring model for the Japanese literary criticism of the future. * Monumenta Nipponica *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1. Beginnings2. School Days3. Words4. The Provinces5. London6. Home Again7. I Am a Cat8. Smaller Gems9. The Thursday Salon10. A Professional Novelist11. Sanshirō12. A Pair of Novels13. Crisis at Shuzenji14. A Death in the Family15. Einsamkeit16. Grass on the Wayside17. The Final YearNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In chapters on Poor Folk, The Double, The House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov, Frank distills his multivolume biography’s provocative and superbly argued readings. . . . The best approach, in Frank’s view, is first to locate Dostoevsky’s fiction and ideas within his immediate concerns, and only then proceed, from the ground up rather than from generalities down, to consider their broader implications. These lectures do that especially well."---Gary Saul Morson, New York Review of Books"The lectures are full of novel, authoritatively argued insights. Frank makes new connections and clears up previous misunderstandings"---Christina Karakepeli, Modern Languages Review

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A deeply informed, academic work, but highly readable."---Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald"The Man of the Crowd is a thoroughly engaging book about the legendary writer and his complex relationship with the urban environment. Peeples is to be commended for deploying a unique lens for further examining the tortured genius of the great Edgar Allan Poe."---Leonora Cravotta, American Spectator"[A] superb new biograph[y] of Poe. . . . The Man of the Crowd . . . give[s] us a clearer view of Poe as a man and an artist, while at the same time showing how the myth mill about him was busy from the start, forming and deforming his choices, and creating the brand of Poe we know today."---Jonathan Elmer, Public Books"Engaging. . . . [The Man of the Crowd] succeeds admirably in bringing us closer to a man we can now better appreciate as part of the crowd rather than a remote and inexplicable monad."---Ian Finseth, Edgar Allan Poe Review"The Man of the Crowd, by Scott Peeples, has something for everyone. It should be equally attractive to Edgar Allan Poe scholars, aficionados, and those who simply want to read more of Poe’s stories, poems, and essays."---Henry T. Edmonson III, Law & Liberty"What sets Scott Peeples’s ‘compact biography’ apart from other recent work is that it also concerns cities, specifically Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, where Poe spent much of his life and which stirred his imagination. Peeples’s aim is to re-contextualize the image of Poe as a campy ‘nowhere man,’. . . . In detailing Poe’s moves from city to city, Peeples presents an ambitious young man seeking to support his family and to establish himself as a writer, critic, and editor."---Katherine J. Kim, The Metropole"A welcome, engaging introduction to Poe’s life. . . . This compact biography is an affable ramble, a genial journey, with Poe through the years. It knowledgeably and accessibly recounts Poe’s urban contexts and relates his relevant texts. . . . The whole is interestingly complemented by archival images of contemporary maps and periodicals and by archival photographs, blended photographs, and recent photographs by Michelle Van Parys of various Poe sites and locales. This volume is a useful vade mecum for our armchair Poe peregrinations."---Richard Kopley, Poe Studies"Peeples convincingly demonstrates that Poe remained “in transit” throughout his life, despite his literary successes, and was never in full control of his career. This accessible book will interest casual readers and Poe scholars alike." * Choice *"Well-researched . . . [and] deeply informed. . . . Scott Peeples's streamlined account of Poe's journeys . . . grounds itself determinedly in the arc of his life's movement through various urban social realities. . . . This biography achieves its freshness through framing Poe's life as a series of chapters related to the cities in which he took up primary residence."---Stephen Rachman, Poe Studies"A highly absorbing, important, and superbly crafted study that deserves a place on the top shelf of Poe biographies."---Jason Richards, American Literary History

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Book SynopsisOne is not born a woman, but becomes one, Simone de BeauvoirA symbol of liberated womanhood, Simone de Beauvoir's unconventional relationships inspired and scandalised her generation. A philosopher, writer, and feminist icon, she won prestigious literary prizes and transformed the way we think about gender with The Second Sex. But despite her successes, she wondered if she had sold herself short.Her liaison with Jean-Paul Sartre has been billed as one of the most legendary love affairs of the twentieth century. But for Beauvoir it came at a cost: for decades she was dismissed as an unoriginal thinker who applied' Sartre's ideas. In recent years new material has come to light revealing the ingenuity of Beauvoir's own philosophy and the importance of other lovers in her life. This ground-breaking biography draws on never-before-published diaries and letters to tell the fascinating story of how Simone de Beauvoir became herself.Trade ReviewA book to be read slowly and savoured. There’s too much detail to gulp it down. But it is worth the time it takes to read a fascinating portrait of a woman who inspired women around the world and who changed the way many people think. * The Sunday Times *[Kirkpatrick] gives more space to De Beauvoir’s contrary relationship with feminism, and the discussion here is helpfully rich ... The letters to Lanzmann do constitute a major new resource ... Where Kirkpatrick’s biography is strongest is in clarifying and showing the strength of De Beauvoir’s ethical commitments, and how these were transformed into political commitments after the war. * The Guardian *4 stars ... Illuminating. * The Daily Telegraph *Kirkpatrick's biography is an exercise in meticulous research. Using newly published diaries – only recently made available to researchers – it refuses simple characterisations and reveals de Beauvoir in all her brilliance and complexity ... Becoming Beauvoir is a beautiful tribute to a remarkable woman. * Times Higher Education *Fascinating and deeply researched. * Daily Mail *Kirkpatrick offers a far more detailed and analytical account of de Beauvoir's philosophy than any previous biography ... Kirkpatrick's essential achievement here is to have related Simone de Beauvoir's logic to her life ... This is the best Beauvoir biography yet. * Standpoint Magazine *In her excellent new biography, Kate Kirkpatrick [..] shows us why we've much more to learn from Beauvoir. * New Statesman *In Kirkpatrick’s biography, Beauvoir is restored to her full body of work, her full complexity, her full bravery – so much more than one misquoted line. * Literary Review *An admirable biography probing beneath the surface of misogynistic predecessors and exposing the complexities and contradictions of this extraordinary woman. * Irish Examiner *While she advocates for de Beauvoir, contesting various criticisms, she allows complexity...Meticulously and engagingly, Kirkpatrick catches myriad "instants" of the flux behind the icon. -- Felicity Plunkett * The Australian *Kirkpatrick has trawled fastidiously through her commentaries, diaries and, significantly, the interviews she gave towards the end of her life. The result is a rich rediscovery of this inspirational feminist, philosopher and existentialist. It will spark a whole new love affair since such politically-aware feminists remain thin on the ground – and more needed than ever. -- Samela Harris * SA Weekend Magazine *[An] accessible and enjoyable resource for a wide audience … Becoming Beauvoir gives sensitive treatment to issues that have troubled feminists: Beauvoir’s polyamory; the damage caused by her early liaisons with younger women; and her ambivalent attitude toward the philosophical content of her own oeuvre. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. * CHOICE *A comprehensive and revealing approach to the life of the French philosopher and writer * Philosophy (Bloomsbury Translation) *This powerful, important book offers a necessary and radical, new, evidence-based reading of Simone de Beauvoir’s life and work. It unpicks and undermines the extraordinary torrent of belittling and sexist criticism that has been directed at Beauvoir, both in her lifetime and since, and recovers her from Jean-Paul Sartre’s shadow to bring her to stand in her own light. This haunting, scholarly, and compelling biography lingers long in the reader’s mind. * Suzannah Lipscomb FRHS, Professor of History, University of Roehampton, UK *Do we need another biography on Simone de Beauvoir? Definitely! Here we finally have a biography that makes Beauvoir’s philosophical ideas the focal point – not her love life. Based on new material, and written with insight, respect and sympathy, Kate Kirkpatrick re-examines Beauvoir’s life and demonstrates how it was guided by her own existentialist ideals as well as twisted by her circumstances. A timely and fascinating book! * Tove Pettersen, Professor of Philosophy, University of Oslo, Norway. President of the International Simone de Beauvoir Society *Beautifully written and meticulously researched, Kirkpatrick draws on new material to find contradictions in previous accounts of Simone de Beauvoir’s biography, including those from Beauvoir herself. Becoming Beauvoir is essential reading for anyone interested not just in Beauvoir’s life, but the philosophy within it. * Fiona Vera-Gray, Assistant Professor in Sociology, Durham University, UK *Table of ContentsAbbreviations of Beauvoir’s Works Introduction: Simone de Beauvoir—Who’s She? 1. Growing like a girl 2. The dutiful daughter 3. Lover of God or lover of men? 4. The love before the legend 5. The Valkyrie and the Playboy 6. Rooms of her own 7. The trio that was a quartet 8. War within, war without 9. Forgotten philosophy 10. Queen of existentialism 11. American dilemmas 12. The scandalous Second Sex 13. Putting a new face on love 14. Feeling gypped 15. Old age revealed 16. The dying of the light 17. Afterwords: What will become of Simone de Beauvoir? Select Bibliography

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