These Possible Lives

Biography & Memoir, Literary, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book These Possible Lives by Fleur Jaeggy, New Directions
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Fleur Jaeggy ISBN: 9780811226882
Publisher: New Directions Publication: July 25, 2017
Imprint: New Directions Language: English
Author: Fleur Jaeggy
ISBN: 9780811226882
Publisher: New Directions
Publication: July 25, 2017
Imprint: New Directions
Language: English

Brief in the way a razor’s slice is brief, remarkable essays by a peerless stylist

New Directions is proud to present Fleur Jaeggy’s strange and mesmerizing essays about the writers Thomas De Quincey, John Keats, and Marcel Schwob. A renowned stylist of hyper-brevity in fiction, Fleur Jaeggy proves herself an even more concise master of the essay form, albeit in a most peculiar and lapidary poetic vein. Of De Quincey’s early nineteenth-century world we hear of the habits of writers: Charles Lamb “spoke of ‘Lilliputian rabbits’ when eating frog fricassse”; Henry Fuseli “ate a diet of raw meat in order to obtain splendid dreams”; “Hazlitt was perceptive about musculature and boxers”; and “Wordsworth used a buttery knife to cut the pages of a first-edition Burke.” In a book of “blue devils” and night visions, the Keats essay opens: “In 1803, the guillotine was a common child’s toy.” And poor Schwob’s end comes as he feels “like a ‘dog cut open alive’”: “His face colored slightly, turning into a mask of gold. His eyes stayed open imperiously. No one could shut his eyelids. The room smoked of grief.” Fleur Jaeggy’s essays—or are they prose poems?—smoke of necessity: the pages are on fire.

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

Brief in the way a razor’s slice is brief, remarkable essays by a peerless stylist

New Directions is proud to present Fleur Jaeggy’s strange and mesmerizing essays about the writers Thomas De Quincey, John Keats, and Marcel Schwob. A renowned stylist of hyper-brevity in fiction, Fleur Jaeggy proves herself an even more concise master of the essay form, albeit in a most peculiar and lapidary poetic vein. Of De Quincey’s early nineteenth-century world we hear of the habits of writers: Charles Lamb “spoke of ‘Lilliputian rabbits’ when eating frog fricassse”; Henry Fuseli “ate a diet of raw meat in order to obtain splendid dreams”; “Hazlitt was perceptive about musculature and boxers”; and “Wordsworth used a buttery knife to cut the pages of a first-edition Burke.” In a book of “blue devils” and night visions, the Keats essay opens: “In 1803, the guillotine was a common child’s toy.” And poor Schwob’s end comes as he feels “like a ‘dog cut open alive’”: “His face colored slightly, turning into a mask of gold. His eyes stayed open imperiously. No one could shut his eyelids. The room smoked of grief.” Fleur Jaeggy’s essays—or are they prose poems?—smoke of necessity: the pages are on fire.

More books from New Directions

Cover of the book The Henry Miller Reader by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Pereira Maintains by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Nausea by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Henry Miller on Writing by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Now the Cats With Jeweled Claws & Other One-Act Plays by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (New Directions Bibelot) by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Zen and the Birds of Appetite by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Residence on Earth by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Nightwood (New Edition) by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book The Kites by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Women Poets of Japan by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book A Streetcar Named Desire by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book The Berlin Stories by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book Little Misunderstandings of No Importance by Fleur Jaeggy
Cover of the book The Armies by Fleur Jaeggy
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