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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Essays, journals, letters & other prose works > General
Based on select writings from an exceptional Amsterdam archive
containing more than two thousand Dutch diaries from World War II,
The Diary Keepers illuminates a part of history we haven't seen in
quite this way before. Nina Siegal, an accomplished journalist and
novelist, weaves together excerpts from the daily journals of
collaborators, resistors, and the persecuted-a Dutch Nazi police
detective, a Jewish journalist imprisoned at Westerbork transit
camp, a grocery store owner who saved dozens of lives-into a
braided nonfictional narrative of the Nazi occupation and the Dutch
Holocaust, as individuals experienced it day by day. Siegal
provides the context, both historical and personal, while she tries
to make sense of her own relationship to this past. As a
"second-generation survivor" born and raised in New York, she
attempts to understand what it meant for her mother and maternal
grandparents to live through the war in Europe in those times. When
Siegal moved to Amsterdam, those questions came up again, as did
another horrifying one: Why did 75 percent of the Dutch Jewish
community perish in the war, while in other Western European
countries the proportions were significantly lower? How did this
square with the narratives of Dutch resistance she had heard so
much about, and in what way did it relate to the famed Dutch
tolerance? Searching and singular, The Diary Keepers takes us into
the lives of seven diary writers and follows their pasts into the
present, through interviews with those who preserved and inherited
these diaries. Along the way, Siegal investigates the nature of
memory and how the traumatic past is rewritten again and again.
Darwin takes a look at the life of this incredible man, from his
birth, his ground-breaking publications and far-flung travels,
Darwinism and his theories on evolution, all the way to his final
days. Over 160 stunning images and illustrations are included
within Darwin, ranging from personal diary entries (such as those
he made when deciding whether to marry or not), letters and
handwritten notes, as well as sketches from Darwin's famous works.
Revealing the famous scientist's life in compelling detail, Darwin
covers not only his scientific career and On the Origin of Species
but his personal struggles also, allowing us to see what truly made
the man.
Margaret Tait (1918-1999) was a pioneering filmmaker for whom words
and images made the world real. In 'documentary', she wrote, real
things 'lose their reality ...and there's no poetry in that. In
poetry, something else happens.' If film, for Tait, was a poetic
medium, her poems are works of craft and observation that are
generous and independent in their vision of the world, poems that
make seeing happen. Sarah Neely, Lecturer in Film at the University
of Stirling, draws on Tait's three poetry collections, her book of
short stories,her magazine articles and unpublished notebooks to
make available for the first time a collection of the full range of
Tait's writing. Her introduction discusses Tait as filmmaker and
writer in the context of mid-twentieth-century Scottish culture,
and a comprehensive list of bibliographic and film resources
provides an indispensible guide for further exploration.
A poignant and bittersweet memoir from the distinguished British fiction writer Penelope Lively, Oleander, Jacaranda evokes the author's unusual childhood growing up English in Egypt during the 1930s and 1940s. Filled with the birds, animals and planets of the Nile landscape that the author knew as a child, Oleander, Jacaranda follows the young Penelope from a visit to a fellaheen village to an afternoon at the elegant Gezira Sporting Club, one milieu as exotic to her as the other. Lively's memoir offers us the rare opportunity to accompany a gifted writer on a journey of exploration into the mysterious world of her own childhood.
In Shebeen Tales, Zimbabwe's leading author offers a view of his
country not from the privileged and insulated perspective of the
foreign correspondent or well-heeled visitor, but that of the
ordinary person who, with the help of dry wit and illegal beer,
pokes fun at the rich and mighty. Struggling against drivers,
pompous bureaucrats and the other woes of life in the city, the man
in the shebeen sees modern Africa as it really is, not as press
releases or tourist brochures would have us believe.
Acerbic, wisecracking and hilarious, this is the definitive essay
collection from New York legend and satirist, Fran Lebowitz, star
of Martin Scorsese's hit Netflix series, Pretend It's a City. 'The
gold standard for intelligence, efficiency and humour. Now and
forever' DAVID SEDARIS 'She's inexhaustible - her personality, her
knowledge, her brilliance, most of all her humour' MARTIN SCORSESE
'The rare example of a legend living up to her own mythology. She
really is THAT funny' HADLEY FREEMAN Lebowitz turns her trademark
caustic wit to the vicissitudes of life - from children ('rarely in
the position to lend one a truly interesting sum of money') to
landlords ('it is the solemn duty of every landlord to maintain an
adequate supply of roaches'). And her attitude to work is the
perfect antidote to our exhausting culture of self-betterment
('3.40pm. I consider getting out of bed. I reject the notion as
being unduly vigorous. I read and smoke a bit more'). 'Great people
talk about ideas, average people talk about things and small people
talk about wine' 'Think before you speak. Read before you think'
'All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are,
in fact, barely presentable' 'There is no such thing as inner
peace. There is only nervousness and death' 'The opposite of
talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting'
JP Duminy (1897-1980) was the only university professor to play
cricket for South Africa. He was also the first alumnus of UCT to
become Vice Chancellor and the first non-American to be elected a
First Vice President of Rotary International. In this book, his son
Andrew writes about his life and his distinguished career. Using
diaries and private papers in the family's possession, he portryas
his father as someone known for his good humour, clear-thinking and
fair mindedness. In the words fo a senior academic who knew him
well, he thought "dispassionately and fearlessly acted upon what he
found to be true and in the best interests of the institution which
he served".
'Date, time, wind, waves, pressure, temperature, and cloud cover.
Like pilots, roofers and mountain climbers, mariners are obsessed
with the weather, immersed in it as part of their daily calculus .
. . Make good decisions, mariners are fond of saying. If there were
a corollary to this, it might offer: When the weather gods show you
their cards, don't miss them' Weather can be the difference between
life and death for a sailor, something Captain Elliot Rappaport
knows very well, having spent almost his whole adult life at sea. A
professional ship's captain, with over thirty years of experience
sailing traditional vessels, 'tall ships', Captain Rappaport has
travelled around 100,000 sea miles, in all four hemispheres, and
spent a great many hours watching the weather unfold. In Reading
the Glass he shares all he has learned about the weather at sea,
gives us an inside look at the world of seafaring, a vocation much
more than a job, and shares some hard-won mariner's wisdom: if you
are headed for Greenland in July, expect at least one storm, and
wait until after Christmas to sail to New Zealand's South Island;
pack $3000-worth of fruit and veg for a two-month journey at sea;
and the most valuable member of the crew is first of all the
engineer, and secondly the cook! Reading the Glass is a gorgeous
blend of drily funny stories of life on a ship, the history of
seafaring, stories of explorers, discoveries, epic storms, and the
science of weather.
Pots and Poetry and other essays is a collection of some of South
African philosopher Martin Versfeld’s most popular works, as well
as three previously uncollected essays. Versfeld enriches and
enlarges our understanding of the world by synthesising Eastern and
Western thought – along the way demonstrating that Plato and
Confucius were brothers in arms – and by taking a stance on the
environment that is far ahead of its time.
The first authorised biography of eternal legend Elizabeth Taylor.
Known for her glamorous beauty, soap-opera personal life and
magnetic screen presence, Elizabeth Taylor was the twentieth
century's most famous film star. Including unseen photographs and
unread private reflections, this authorised biography is a
fascinating and complete portrait worthy of the legend and her
legacy. Elizabeth Taylor captures this intelligent, empathetic,
tenacious, volatile and complex woman as never before, from her
rise to massive fame at the age of twelve in National Velvet to
becoming the first actor to negotiate a million-dollar salary for a
film, from her eight marriages and enduring love affair with
Richard Burton to her lifelong battle with addiction and her
courageous efforts as an AIDS activist. Using Elizabeth's
unpublished letters, diary entries and off-the-record interview
transcripts as well as interviews with 250 of her closest friends
and family, Kate Andersen Brower tells the full, unvarnished story
of the classic Hollywood star who continues to captivate audiences
the world over.
"Darkness is not empty," writes Teju Cole in Black Paper, a
collection of essays that meditate on what it means to keep our
humanity-and witness the humanity of others-in a time of darkness.
Cole is well-known as a master of the essay form, and in Black
Paper he is writing at the peak of his skill, as he models how to
be closely attentive to experience-to not just see and take in, but
to think critically about what we are seeing and not seeing.
Wide-ranging in their subject matter, the essays are connected by
ethical questions about what it means to be human and what it means
to bear witness, recognizing how our individual present is informed
by a collective past. Cole's writings in Black Paper approach the
fractured moment of our history through a constellation of
interrelated concerns: confrontation with unsettling art, elegies
both public and private, the defense of writing in a time of
political upheaval, the role of the color black in the visual arts,
the use of shadow in photography, and the links between literature
and activism. Throughout, Cole gives us intriguing new ways of
thinking about the color black and its numerous connotations. As he
describes the carbon copy process in his epilogue: "Writing on the
top white sheet would transfer the carbon from the black paper onto
the bottom white. Black transported the meaning."
Essays from a Native American grandfather to help navigate life's
difficult experiences. Offered in the oral traditions of the Nez
Perce, Native American writer W. S. Penn records the conversations
he held with his granddaughter, lovingly referred to as ""Bean,""
as he guided her toward adulthood while confronting society's
interest in possessions, fairness, and status. Drawing on his own
family history and Native mythology, Penn charts a way through life
where each endeavor is a journey-an opportunity to love, to learn,
or to interact-rather than the means to a prize at the end. Divided
into five parts, Penn addresses topics such as the power of words,
race and identity, school, and how to be. In the essay "In the Nick
of Names," Penn takes an amused look at the words we use for people
and how their power, real or imagined, can alter our perception of
an entire group. To Have and On Hold is an essay about wanting to
assimilate into a group but at the risk of losing a good bit of
yourself. "A Harvest Moon" is a humorous anecdote about a Native
grandfather visiting his granddaughter's classroom and the
absurdities of being a professional Indian. "Not Nobody" uses "Be
All that You Can Be Week" at Bean's school to reveal the lessons
and advantages of being a "nobody." In "From Paper to Person," Penn
imagines the joy that may come to Bean when she spends time with
her Paper People-three-foot-tall drawings, mounted on stiff
cardboard-and as she grows into a young woman like her mom, able to
say she is a person who is happy with what she has and not sorry
for what she doesn't. Comical and engaging, the essays in Raising
Bean will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and interests,
especially those with a curiosity in language, perception, humor,
and the ways in which Native people guide their families and
friends with stories.
From the Booker-shortlisted author of Umbrella, a world-girdling
collection of writings inspired by a life lived in and for
literatureFrom one of the most unusual and distinctive writers
working today, dubbed "the most daring and delightful novelist of
his generation" by the Guardian, Will Self's Why Read is a
cornucopia of thoughtful and brilliantly witty essays on writing
and literature.Self takes us with him: from the foibles of his
typewriter repairman to the irradiated exclusion zone of Chernobyl,
to the Australian outback, and to literary forms past and future.
With his characteristic intellectual brio, Self aims his inimitable
eye at titans of literature like Woolf, Kafka, Orwell, and Conrad.
He writes movingly on W.G. Sebald's childhood in Germany and
provocatively describes the elevation of William S. Burroughs's
Junky from shocking pulp novel to beloved cult classic. Self also
expands on his regular column in Literary Hub to ask readers, how,
what, and ultimately why we should read in an ever-changing world.
Whether he is writing on the rise of the bookshelf as an item of
furniture in the nineteenth century or on the impossibility of
Googling his own name in a world lived online, Self's trademark
intoxicating prose and mordant, energetic humor infuse every
piece.A book that examines how the human stream of consciousness
flows into and out of literature, Why Read will satisfy both old
and new readers of this icon of contemporary literature.
How do you get to know your daughter when she is dead?
This is the question which takes a mother on a journey of self-discovery. When her daughter Yinka dies, Mojisola is finally forced to stop running away from the difficulties in their relationship, and also come to terms with Yinka the woman. Mojisola’s grief leads her on a journey of self-discovery, as she moves into her daughter’s apartment and begins to unearth the life Yinka had built for herself there, away from her family.
Through stepping into Yinka’s shoes, Mojisola comes to a better understanding not only of her estranged daughter, but also herself, as she learns to carve a place for herself in the world beyond the labels of wife and mother. A bold and unflinching tale of one women’s unconventional approach to life and loss.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER The brilliant new book from the
multiple Sunday Times bestselling author that will explain the
principles behind maintaining a healthy mind and body. The mind and
body are often talked about as separate entities, but it's only
when they work in harmony with one another that one can truly push
oneself to the highest heights. In his new book, Ant Middleton lays
out and explains the principles that he lives by to best keep his
mindset and body as strong as they can possibly be.
Libanius of Antioch (AD 314-393) stands out as a fundamental source
for the history of the Greek East in the 4th century AD. Nearly
half the important figures in the Eastern empire of his day are
known in part or in full through his works alone. Some 700 people,
including many of the key players of the age, are known through his
vast collection of letters, the largest to survive from antiquity.
letters in this volume offer are addressed to a wide range of
people, from family members to old schoolmates and pupils, from
provincial governors to the most important officials of the
imperial court.
A profound book of essays from a celebrated master of the form.
"Darkness is not empty," writes Teju Cole in Black Paper, a book
that meditates on what it means to sustain our humanity-and witness
the humanity of others-in a time of darkness. One of the most
celebrated essayists of his generation, Cole here plays variations
on the essay form, modeling ways to attend to experience-not just
to take in but to think critically about what we sense and what we
don't. Wide-ranging but thematically unified, the essays address
ethical questions about what it means to be human and what it means
to bear witness, recognizing how our individual present is informed
by a collective past. Cole's writings in Black Paper approach the
fractured moment of our history through a constellation of
interrelated concerns: confrontation with unsettling art, elegies
both public and private, the defense of writing in a time of
political upheaval, the role of the color black in the visual arts,
the use of shadow in photography, and the links between literature
and activism. Throughout, Cole gives us intriguing new ways of
thinking about blackness and its numerous connotations. As he
describes the carbon-copy process in his epilogue: "Writing on the
top white sheet would transfer the carbon from the black paper onto
the bottom white sheet. Black transported the meaning."
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