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The final volume of the trilogy that began with The Smoking Diaries
finds Simon Gray determined to give up smoking. Really. At last.
Can he kick the habit of sixty years? Will he, sometime soon, be
able to leave his house without nervously feeling for his two
packets of twenty and his two lighters? As this wonderful, wayward
record of Gray's life progresses, these questions are overtaken by
much larger ones. What was sex like before 1963? Will his name be
in lights on Broadway? Why leave the bedside of his dying mother?
With their combination of comedy and serious reflection, of sharp
observation and painful self-disclosure, Simon Gray's diaries
reinvented the memoir form and are destined to become classics of
autobiography.
The Pig Trade, Japes Too, Michael, The Holy Terror The Pig Trade is
set in 1937 in the Villa of I Tatti outsider Florence where, under
the menacing shadow of Mussolini, a famous art historian and a
notorious art dealer have an explosive final encounter. Japes Too
and Michael are companion plays, in which the love of two brothers
for one woman both highlights and obscures their dependency on each
other but where fate and tragedy strike differently. Simon Gray's
play Melon, which follows a publisher into his nervous breakdown
and out again, enjoyed great success in the West End but,
dissatisfied with the work, Gray revised it so thoroughly that a
new play with the same central character emerged, entitled The Holy
Terror. This volume also contains a brief chronicle by the author
on the gestation of his work and the impossibility of writing.
'Simon Gray is actually one of the most accessible, elegant and
tender of contemporary writers. He is also, both on stage and on
the printed page, laugh-out-loud funny.' Charles Spencer, Daily
Telegraph 'Gray's plays, funny and sad, have a savage honesty at
their heart.' Mail on Sunday
When he turned sixty-five, the playwright Simon Gray began to keep
a diary: not a careful honing of the day's events with a view to
posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly,
turbulently, digressively expressed. The Smoking Diaries was the
result, in which one of Britain's most beloved and original writers
reflected on a life filled with cigarettes (continuing), alcohol
(stopped), several triumphs and many more disasters, shame,
adultery, friendship and love. Few diarists have been as frank
about themselves, and even fewer as entertaining.
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Coda (Paperback)
Simon Gray
1
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R251
R202
Discovery Miles 2 020
Save R49 (20%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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From heartbreaking reflections on his own mortality to
characteristically outrageous asides--"everybody knows somebody who
knows somebody who was given six months to live, and here they are,
only just dead, eight years later or, in exceptional cases, here
they still are, eating oysters and boring the shit out of
people"--Gray's self-proclaimed "last written words on the subject
of myself" records his extraordinary emotional journey. Darkly
comic depictions of the medical team are set against joyful
accounts of sunlit days with this beloved wife, Victoria, in Crete
and a beautiful early summer in Suffolk. Woven into the narrative
are arguments with himself, "Dialogue between a Thicko and a
Sicko," a shameful childhood memory, and a masterfully tense
"distraction," written in real time while waiting for his final
prognosis--and smoking one last cigarette. Written with exceptional
candor and a poignant reluctance to leave this world behind, "Coda"
is painful and beautiful.
As a baby, Simon Gray discovered that he could move his pram while
still nestling inside it. 'It was a complete mystery to the adult
intelligences, how had he done it, if it was he who had done it,
but if not he, who then and why? So the next afternoon they (Mummy
and Nanny) planted the pram in the usual spot, and stood over it,
watching - the baby lay there smiling or snivelling up at them,
until it struck them that they should try observing the baby when
unobserved by the baby, and they withdrew behind bushes and trees
etc.; and thus witnessed the swaying of the pram, then the
juddering of the pram, then its slow, unsteady progress along the
path, the movement accompanied by a low humming and keening sound
from within that reminded them more of a dog than a human ...
"jouncing" was the word they used for it. I was a jouncer
therefore.' In the second book of his chronicles of triumph and
disaster which started with The Smoking Diaries, Gray intertwined
scenes from his adult and his childish self to produce a brilliant
and moving counterpoint of life's unsteady progress.
'Sharp, funny and clever . . . What a pleasure to re-encounter a
play that combines unabashed intelligence and zinging wit with a
rare generosity of spirit.' Daily Telegraph on The Common Pursuit
'Gray's stature as one of the handful of great tragi-comic English
dramatists of the second half of the twentieth century would appear
now to be undisputed.' Howard Jacobson, Critical Quarterly Hidden
Laughter 'A sad divine comedy, superbly written. Gray nurses his
characters and cares for them, but he never pampers them, or pities
them, or presumes to use them as his spokesman. In this respect, he
has become an English Chekhov... At the same time, Gray dispenses
some of the incandescent malice and moral savagery of Coward at his
acid best... But, of course, comparisons can only help you get your
bearings. Gray is entirely his own man in this painful, querulous,
warm, hard and mature play.' Sunday Times
'A superbly written play, a funny play, an agonising play. It is,
moreover, a play of truth and insight. A play to savour.' Punch on
Otherwise Engaged 'Life in the theatre hasn't brought me anything
more rewarding than directing Simon Gray's plays.' Harold Pinter
Plaintiffs and Defendants Exceptionally good... the play gave such
a rending picture of married mess that it was hard to know where to
look.' Clive James, Observer 'Simon Gray is the one [TV playwright]
whose work I most relish seeing for his acerbic wit, wonderful
ironies and above all for his care with our mother tongue.' Dennis
Potter
Butley 'What is so wondrous about a play so basically defeatist and
hurtful is its ability to be funny. The stark, unsentimental
approach to the homosexual relationship, the cynical send-up of
academic life, the skeptical view of the teacher-pupil associations
are all stunningly illuminated by continuous explosions of
sardonic, needling, feline, vituperative and civilised lines.'
Evening Standard
'There are few things more enjoyable than reading the diaries of
Simon Gray.' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday Simon Gray's witty,
painful, and acutely observed Early Diaries chronicle the highs and
lows of bringing two of his plays to the stage. An Unnatural
Pursuit records the London production of The Common Pursuit, from
the nail-biting process of finding a producer through rehearsals to
the first-night post-mortem. An enthralling insight into the world
of Simon Gray, his working relationship with Harold Pinter-who
directed many of his plays-and into the fascinating business of
putting on a play. "A remarkable account of a remarkable
experience." Harold Pinter How's That for Telling 'em, Fat Lady?
describes Gray's experiences staging The Common Pursuit and Dog
Days in Los Angeles and New York. 'Not only the funniest book ever
written about the American theatre, but a biliously accurate memoir
of the inescapable beastliness of modern life. It splutters with
instantly comic characters... and richest of all these is the
self-portrait of the author, whose bellicose melancholy and
fortitude is so ripe and raw. For those who dread grease-paint
anecdotalism, don't be put off. It's a terrific comic adventure,
terrifically told with exquisite ill-temper.' John Osborne,
Spectator
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
With Three Letters Of Dr. Blair, And Thoughts On The Present State
Of The British Drama, And What Seems Calculated To Improve It.
This is an adventure story that takes place over one long hot
summer. It tells the story of a group of friends and the things
they get up too. I would hope that values such as friendship and
looking after and helping others would be evident throughout.
Together with pleasant and protective family relationships creating
an environment where the friendship can grow through the
holidays.
With Three Letters Of Dr. Blair, And Thoughts On The Present State
Of The British Drama, And What Seems Calculated To Improve It.
Here is a hilarious look at the artistic pretensions of the young
and the rich that charts a decade in the life of a London family
transplanted to an idyllic country setting. A literary agent and
his wife buy a Devon cottage where she can write, children will be
happy, and they can relax. Into their world walks the local vicar a
classically comic character who tends their magnificent garden and
their emotional if not spiritual needs as the outside world
intrudes with failure and disillusionment.-3 women, 5 men
A very English modern play, reeking of real tragedy, real humour
and real life. The Common Pursuit chronicles the erosion of the
ambitions of a smug, elitist group of Cambridge frien's. Stuart is
editor of a literary magazine and the pursuit of excellence is
shown to be economically a bad proposition in this world. The
magazine collapses and the characters' fates vary as the play
proceeds. An ironic epilogue returns to the early days in Cambridge
with the young people planning their futures.1 woman, 5 men
Never has the celebrated author of Butley and Otherwise Engaged
been more amusing and more touching than in this thoroughly
delightful portrait of a mediocre but lovable English schoolteacher
named St. John Quartermaine and his fellow faculty at a small
school in Cambridge which teaches English to foreigners.2 women, 5
men
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