Portrait with Keys: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked

Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure & Literary Travel
Cover of the book Portrait with Keys: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked by Ivan Vladislavic, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ivan Vladislavic ISBN: 9780393071511
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: June 1, 2009
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Ivan Vladislavic
ISBN: 9780393071511
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: June 1, 2009
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

“Surely one of the most ingenious love letters—full of violence, fear, humour, and cunning—ever addressed to a city.” —Geoff Dyer

This dazzling portrait of Johannesburg is one of the most haunting, poetic pieces of reportage about a metropolis since Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City. Through precisely crafted snapshots, Ivan Vladislavic observes the unpredictable, day-today transformation of his embattled city: the homeless using manholes as cupboards, a public statue slowly cannibalized for scrap. Most poignantly he charts the small, devastating changes along the postapartheid streets: walls grow higher, neighborhoods are gated off, the keys multiply. Security—insecurity?—is the growth industry. Vladislavic, described as “one of the most imaginative minds at work in South African literature today” (André Brink), delivers “one of the best things ever written about a great, if schizophrenic, city, and an utterly true picture of the new South Africa” (Christopher Hope).

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“Surely one of the most ingenious love letters—full of violence, fear, humour, and cunning—ever addressed to a city.” —Geoff Dyer

This dazzling portrait of Johannesburg is one of the most haunting, poetic pieces of reportage about a metropolis since Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City. Through precisely crafted snapshots, Ivan Vladislavic observes the unpredictable, day-today transformation of his embattled city: the homeless using manholes as cupboards, a public statue slowly cannibalized for scrap. Most poignantly he charts the small, devastating changes along the postapartheid streets: walls grow higher, neighborhoods are gated off, the keys multiply. Security—insecurity?—is the growth industry. Vladislavic, described as “one of the most imaginative minds at work in South African literature today” (André Brink), delivers “one of the best things ever written about a great, if schizophrenic, city, and an utterly true picture of the new South Africa” (Christopher Hope).

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Life Without a Recipe: A Memoir of Food and Family by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book The Impact of Attachment by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Among the Living and the Dead: A Tale of Exile and Homecoming on the War Roads of Europe by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired: Living with Invisible Chronic Illness (New Edition) by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Difficult Mothers: Understanding and Overcoming Their Power by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Apparition & Late Fictions: A Novella and Stories by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book In the Flesh: Poems by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated) by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University (Issues of Our Time) by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society (Revised and Enlarged Edition) by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book This Sweet Sickness by Ivan Vladislavic
Cover of the book Landscape with Chainsaw: Poems by Ivan Vladislavic
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy