Childish Literature — reflections on the joys and fears of parentingAlejandro Zambra explores the ups and downs of fatherhood in this collection of essays, poems and stories Dec 13 24December 13, 2024Article at Financial Times
Change — Édouard Louis’s imitation gameIn his latest volume of auto-fiction, the French literary sensation narrates a ruthless quest to disown his working-class roots A decade ago, The End of Eddy took France’s literary scene by storm. The harrowing account of a working-class childhood in… Mar 08 24March 08, 2024Article at Financial Times
"Translation is what we do": On speechwriting and translationI was invited to deliver a short speech at a meeting of the European Speechwriter Network, held in Cambridge in the Spring of 2022. This was both fun and nerve-wracking. As speechwriters, we are used to putting words in other people's mouths, but not… Mar 27 23March 27, 2023Article at Angel on Authory
Transitions: In conversation with Caetano Veloso and Paul B PreciadoIn November 2020, for the Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty, I chaired an online conversation between Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso and Spanish philosopher and activist Paul B Preciado. In a wide-ranging discussion, we talked about… Mar 27 23March 27, 2023Article at Angel on Authory
Imagining Eden: Beyond the mirage of Latin American identityEdward James' jungle folly in Xilitla, Mexico. (Photo by Ulf Jenninger)From the Winter 2015/16 Issue "Latin America On Life Support?"By Ángel Gurría-Quintana When European explorers first caught sight of the land they would soon call the New World,… Dec 09 15December 09, 2015Article at World Policy
Anatomy of an execution: 'Operation Massacre', by Rodolfo WalshOperation Massacre, by Rodolfo Walsh, translated by Daniella Gitlin, Old Street Publishing, RRP£9.99, 230 pages Rarely has the ideal of a writer speaking truth to power been more aptly embodied than in Argentine journalist Rodolfo Walsh. An outspoken… Aug 23 13August 23, 2013Article at Financial Times
What lights beneath: 'A Place in the Country' by WG Sebald A Place in the Country, by WG Sebald, translated by Jo Catling, Hamish Hamilton, RRP£20, 224 pages Admirers of the late WG Sebald’s inimitable blend of essay, memoir, novel and found images, deployed in books such as Vertigo (1990) and The Rings of… Apr 26 13April 26, 2013Article at Financial Times
This Luminous Coast, by Jules PrettyThis Luminous Coast, by Jules Pretty, Full Circle Editions RRP£25, 272 pages"This is a coast about to be lost,” warns Jules Pretty in his clear-eyed account of a year spent walking along England’s East Anglian shores. “Not yet, but it will happen… May 16 11May 16, 2011Article at Financial Times
Venetian Navigators, by Andrea di RobilantVenetian Navigators: The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North, by Andrea di Robilant, Faber, RRP£14.99, 244 pages A curious book was published in Venice in 1558. Its author was one Nicolò Zen, a well-known official of the Venetian republic.… Mar 21 11March 21, 2011Article at Financial Times
The Notebook, by José SaramagoThe Notebook, by José Saramago, translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Daniel Hahn, Verso £12.99, 256 pages, FT Bookshop price: £10.39T is a compilation of the postings by Portuguese novelist-turned-blogger José Saramago. Its appearance proves that texts… Apr 26 10April 26, 2010Article at Financial Times
A Reader on Reading, by Alberto Manguel By Alberto Manguel Yale University Press £18, 320 pages FT Bookshop price: £14.40 What makes human beings unique? We are political animals, Aristotle said. We are the only animals who laugh, linguists have added. For Alberto Manguel, our defining… Apr 12 10April 12, 2010Article at Financial Times
Small Memories, José SaramagoBy José SaramagoTranslated by Margaret Jull CostaHarvill Secker £12.99, 199 pagesFT Bookshop price: £10.39José Saramago, the Portuguese novelist and Nobel laureate, is no stranger to autobiographical writing. He has already published five volumes of… Nov 23 09November 23, 2009Article at Financial Times
The Blue Hour, by Lilian PizzichiniThe Blue Hour: A Portrait of Jean RhysBy Lilian PizzichiniBloomsbury £18.99, 322 pagesFT Bookshop price: £15.19Reading The Blue Hour, Lilian Pizzichini’s vivid account of the life of the novelist Jean Rhys, is like watching a disaster occur in slow… Jun 01 09June 01, 2009Article at Financial Times
Splitting image: new books on photography After Photography By Fred Ritchin WW Norton & Co $29.95, 199 pages FT Bookshop price: £13.59 Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before By Michael Fried Yale University Press £30, 409 pages Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible,… Jan 17 09January 17, 2009Article at Financial Times
Rimbaud, by Edmund WhiteRimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel By Edmund White Atlantic Books £16.99 208 pages FT Bookshop price: £13.59 Among France’s poètes maudits, or “accursed poets”, none is more celebrated today than Arthur Rimbaud. Born in 1854, the troubled and… Jan 12 09January 12, 2009Article at Financial Times
Alfresco stargazing“Naturism is not condoned on this beach,” the sign says. It’s just as well, given the late hour and the fierce wind blowing off the Thames Estuary. I am grateful for this wind, which has cleared the sky in the middle of a wet August week, making my… Aug 30 08August 30, 2008Article at Financial Times
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de VacaA Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca By Andres Resendez Basic Books £15.99, 314 pages The story of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, and of his accidental journey across the American continent, is one of the most remarkable feats of… Jan 12 08January 12, 2008Article at Financial Times
Meet the parents: 'Family Romance', by John LanchesterFamily Romance: A Memoir by John Lanchester Faber ₤16.99. 256 pages FT bookshop price: ₤13.59 How well do we know our parents? Reasonably well, most of us might assume. After all, it is often our relationships with them that define - for good or bad… Apr 13 07April 13, 2007Article at Financial Times
Stanley, by Tim JealSTANLEY: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorerby Tim JealFaber ₤25, 496 pagesFT bookshop price: ₤20The greatest irony of Henry Morton Stanley’s life is that he became famous for “finding” the famous British missionary and explorer David… Mar 02 07March 02, 2007Article at Financial Times
In no other’s footsteps: A review of recent books on travel and explorationIn trying to justify a life spent wandering across some of the world’s farthest corners, travel writer Bruce Chatwin concluded that humans are itinerant by nature. We descend, he reasoned, from nomadic peoples. The roaming instinct is embedded in our… Jan 19 07January 19, 2007Article at Financial Times
