The first in Deborah Levy's essential three-part 'Living Autobiography' on writing and womanhood.
'Unmissable. Like chancing upon an oasis, you want to drink it slowly . . . Subtle, unpredictable, surprising' Guardian
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Taking George Orwell's famous essay, 'Why I Write', as a jumping-off point, Deborah Levy offers her own indispensable reflections of the writing life. With wit, clarity and calm brilliance, she considers how the writer must stake claim to that contested territory as a young woman and shape it to her need.
Things I Don't Want to Know is a work of dazzling insight and deep psychological succour, from one of our most vital contemporary writers.
The final two instalments in Deborah Levy's 'Living Autobiography', The Cost of Living and Real Estate, are available now.
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'Superb sharpness and originality of imagination. An inspiring work of writing' Marina Warner
'An exciting writer, sharp and shocking as the knives her characters wield' Sunday Times
'A writer whose anger and confusion in the face of the world transform into poetic flights of fancy . . . which always feel marvellously right' Independent
Autorentext
Deborah Levy is the author of several novels including August Blue, Hot Milk and Swimming Home, alongside a formally innovative, critically acclaimed 'living autobiography' trilogy: Things I Don't Want to Know, The Cost of Living and Real Estate. She has been shortlisted twice each for the Goldsmiths Prize and Booker Prize and won the Prix Femina Etranger. She has also written for The Royal Shakespeare Company and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Zusammenfassung
Things I Don't Want to Know is a brilliantly insightful longform essay by Deborah Levy.
'Things I Don't Want to Know' is a unique response to George Orwell from one of our most vital contemporary writers. Taking Orwell's famous list of motives for writing as the jumping-off point for a sequence of thrilling reflections on the writing life, this is a perfect companion not just to Orwell's essay, but also to Levy's own, essential oeuvre.
'In her powerful rejoinder to Orwell, Deborah Levy responds to his proposed motives for writing -- 'sheer egoism', 'aesthetic enthusiasm', 'historical impulse' and 'political purpose' -- with illuminating moments of autobiography. A vivid, striking account of a writer's life, which feminises and personalises Orwell's blunt assertions' Spectator
'An up-to-date version of 'A Room of One's Own' . . . I suspect it will be quoted for many years to come' Irish Examiner
'Levy's strength is her originality of thought and expression' Jeanette Winterson
Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she is the author of numerous highly praised books including The Unloved, Swallowing Geography and Beautiful Mutants, all of which are now published by Penguin. Her novel Swimming Home was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, 2012 Specsavers National Book Awards and 2013 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize.