Engelska

Perspectives On Aesthetics, Art And Culture - Essays In Honour Of Lars-olof Åhlberg [Bok / Häftad]

'Tawada's <b>strange, exquisite</b> book toys with ideas of language, identity and what it means to own someone else's story or one's own' <i><b>The New Yorker</b> </i>on Tawada's <i>Memoirs of a Polar Bear</i><br/><br/>How perfect that Tawada's first essay collection in English dives deep into her lifelong fascination with the possibilities opened up by cross-hybridizing languages. Tawada famously writes in both Japanese and German, but her interest in language reaches beyond any mere dichotomy. The term 'exophonic', which she first heard in Senegal, has a special allure for the author: 'I was already familiar with similar terms, 'immigrant literature,' or 'creole literature,' but 'exophonic' had a much broader meaning, referring to the general experience of existing outside of one's mother tongue.'<br/><br/>Tawada revels in explorations of cross-cultural and intra-language possibilities (and along the way deals several nice sharp raps to the global primacy of English). The accent here, as in her fiction, is the art of drawing closer to the world through defamiliarization. Never entertaining a received thought, Tawada seeks the still-to-be-discovered truths, as well as what might possibly be invented entirely whole cloth.<br/><br/><i>Exophony </i>opens a new vista into Yoko Tawada's world, and delivers more of her signature erudite wit - at once cross-grained and generous, laser-focused and multidimensional, slyly ironic and warmly companionable.

Considered by many to be the iconic French memoirist's defining work, <em>The Years </em>is a narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present, cultural habits, language, photos, books, songs, radio, television, advertising and news headlines. Annie Ernaux invents a form that is subjective and impersonal, private and communal, and a new genre - the collective autobiography - in order to capture the passing of time. At the confluence of autofiction and sociology, <em>The Years</em> is 'a <em>Remembrance of Things Past </em>for our age of media domination and consumerism' (<em>New York Times</em>), a monumental account of twentieth-century French history as refracted through the life of one woman.

A powerful meditation on ageing and familial love, <i>I Remain in Darkness</i> recounts Annie Ernaux's attempts to help her mother recover from Alzheimer's disease, and then, when that proves futile, to bear witness to the older woman's gradual decline and her own experience as a daughter losing a beloved parent. Haunting and devastatingly poignant, <i>I Remain in Darkness</i> showcases Ernaux's unique talent for evoking life's darkest and most bewildering episodes.

In 1963, Annie Ernaux, 23 and unattached, realizes she is pregnant. Shame arises in her like a plague: understanding that her pregnancy will mark her and her family as social failures, she knows she cannot keep that child. This is the story, written forty years later, of a trauma Ernaux never overcame. In a France where abortion was illegal, she attempted, in vain, to self-administer the abortion with a knitting needle. Fearful and desperate, she finally located an abortionist, and ends up in a hospital emergency ward where she nearly dies. In <i>Happening</i>, Ernaux sifts through her memories and her journal entries dating from those days. Clearly, cleanly, she gleans the meanings of her experience.

The first essay collection from one of the most acclaimed writers of our time. <br/><br/> <strong>'This trenchant, unrepentant collection reminds you that she's a brilliant writer... Order a copy in case she's cancelled by Christmas' <em>THE TIMES</em> (Book of the Year)</strong> <br/><br/> <strong>'You may disagree with Lionel Shriver's bracing journalism, but her right to spark disquiet goes to the heart of the freedom of expression issue' Rachel Cooke, <em>OBSERVER</em></strong> <br/><br/> <strong>'Mutinous essays about modern politics and culture... An independent mind and a sense of humour are dangerous things to possess. The spiky, politically incorrect novelist Lionel Shriver has them in abundance'<em> THE TIMES</em></strong> <br/><br/> <strong>'Testament to the fierce intelligence of a writer who wants us to think more, probe more, challenge more - and who also makes it fun' <em>THE SUNDAY TIMES</em></strong> <br/><br/>Novelist, cultural observer and social satirist Lionel Shriver is among the sharpest talents of our age. A writer who embraces 'under-expressed, unpopular or downright dangerous' points of view, she regularly deplores the conformity of thought and attitude that has overtaken society. <br/><br/>Bringing together thirty-five works curated from her many columns, features, essays and op-eds for the likes of the <em>Spectator</em> and <em>Guardian</em>, speeches and reviews, and some unpublished pieces, <em>Abominations</em> reveals Shriver at her most iconoclastic and personal. Relentlessly sceptical, cutting and contrarian but also frequently moving and vulnerable, this collection showcases her piquant opinions on a wide range of topics, including religion, politics, illness, mortality, family and friends, tennis, gender, immigration, consumerism, health care and taxes. <br/><br/>Though some of the more divisive essays in <em>Abominations</em> have 'brought hell and damnation down on my head,' as she cheerfully explains, she also offers insights on her novels and explores the perks and pitfalls of becoming a successful artist. Readers will find plenty to challenge them here, but they may also find many nuanced and considered insights with which they agree.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Relive the delusional fever-dream of the modern era. 'Thank f*ck for Marina Hyde: the most lethal, vital, screamingly funny truth-teller of our time.' PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE 'The most brilliantly funny columnist of our time.' GARY LINEKER 'It's a scientific FACT: Marina Hyde is Britain's funniest writer.' CAITLIN MORAN No other writer is more suited to chronicling the absurd times in which we live. In What Just Happened?! Marina Hyde slashes her way through the hellscape of post-referendum politics, where the chaos never stops. Clamber aboard as we relive every inspirational moment of magic, from David Cameron to Theresa May to Boris Johnson. Marvel at the sights, from Trumpian WTF-ery to celebrity twattery. And boggle at the cast of characters: Hollywood sex offenders, populists, sporting heroes (and villains), dastardly dukes, media barons, movie stars, reality TV monsters, billionaires, police officers, various princes and princesses, wicked advisers, philanthropists, fauxlanthropists, telly chefs, and (naturally) Gwyneth Paltrow. It's the full state banquet of crazy - and you're most cordially invited. Drawn from her spectacularly funny Guardian columns, What Just Happened?! is a welcome blast of humour and sanity in a world where reality has become stranger than fiction. 'A joyous rallying voice in British journalism.' GRAYSON PERRY 'An infinite number of gag-writers, working all day in a gag factory, couldn't come up with any of the perfectly-formed one-liners that populate Marina Hyde's hilarious writing . . . But behind the wit lurks real anger, argument, exasperation and intelligence. Her writing is more than a gentle poke in the ribs: it's a well-wrought and deftly aimed smash in the teeth.' ARMANDO IANNUCCI