Diana Athill Knihy

Athill sa vyrovnáva s vlastným životom bez pátosu, ľútosti, sentimentu, triezvo, s humorom, vecne, ale nie sucho. Priznáva zlyhania, spomína na inšpiratívne vzory, vysmieva sa z nafúkanosti kultúrnych ikon svojej doby, spomína na lásky, partnerské, sexuálne vzťahy, priateľstvá, rodinné putá a napriek veku, v ktorom knihu napísala, sa so životom nelúči, iba prehadzuje pomyslenú rýchlosť. Skúma možnosti bežného života, radosti i smútky, záťaže i to, čo v starobe človeka oslobodzuje. Rekapituluje temné i svetlé stránky mladosti, stredného veku i staroby. Prechádza cestu, po ktorej ideme všetci, osvetľuje ju, komentuje, nechvastá sa aktívnym starnutím, priznáva bolesti, chátranie tela a so všetkým, čo ju zaťažuje, sa vyrovnáva nekonvenčne a smelo. Láska, sklamanie, choroba, smrť, náboženská viera či neviera, vzťahy, rodičovstvo, sex, starostlivosť videné z jej uhla pohľadu sú nové a zároveň dôverne známe.

Diana Athill, born in 1917, made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs. Celebrating her life and writing, this title brings together four of her best-loved memoirs, spanning her very English childhood, her life and loves during World War II, her publishing career at Andre Deutsch, and her reflections on old age.

Athill's debut, and a modern classic memoir: a moving story of love and loss, heartbreak and hope during the second world war.

England, in the mid-fifties. Meg Bailey has always aspired to live a respectable life. With her best friend, Roxane, she moves from secondary school to an un-Bohemian art college in Oxford. Under the watchful eye of Roxanne's mother, Mrs Wheeler, the two girls flourish in Oxfordian society. But Meg constantly longs for more. Not content to stay in Oxford, she finds a job in London. Roxane stays behind and marries Dick, a man of Mrs Wheeler's choosing. As Meg's independence grows, Dick suddenly appears in London for work. A connection to her past, Meg and Dick's friendship flourishes, blurring the lines of loyalty between what is and what was in a way that changes life for these three friends forever. As sharp and starling now as when it was written, this unflinching and candid book of love and betrayal encapsulates Diana Athill's gift of storytelling at its finest.

In this sequel to Costa Biography Award-winning Somewhere Towards the End, Diana Athill writes vivaciously, poignantly, and with extraordinary clarity about what really matters in the end, from the remarkable vantage point of her late nineties

Fresh re-issue of Diana Athill's candid memoir of a life spent working as an editor of some of the most celebrated writers of the post war generation.

Die britische Starlektorin Diana Athill erzählt vom Altwerden, von berühmten Autoren und leidenschaftlichen Affären - erfrischend und mit viel Esprit. Diana Athill ist 92 und die Grande Dame der britischen Verlagsbranche. In ihrem Buch denkt sie über die Bedeutung langjähriger Freundschaften nach, setzt sich mit Religion auseinander und spricht über Liebe und Sex im Alter. Das alles tut sie mit großer Offenheit und Ehrlichkeit, viel britischem Humor und erstaunlich unsentimental. Sie erzählt auch, warum alltägliche Dinge für sie einen ganz neuen Wert erlangt haben, und schaut mit klarem Blick zurück auf ein bewegtes Leben, in dem sie zahlreiche berühmte Schriftsteller kennengelernt hat - wie Norman Mailer, John Updike, Jean Rhys, Philip Roth oder V. S. Naipaul.