Mijn Frankrijk is een alfabetische reis door een land waar parken grenzen aan woestijnen, waar sanitair extreme vormen kan aannemen, waar het brood de revolutionaire beginselen uitdraagt en waar het wegverkeer een ode brengt aan de beschaving.
Paris, 2018. Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers a legendary book titled The Maze of Inhumanity. It has an immediate hold over him. No one knows what happened to the author, T.C. Elimane, who was accused of plagiarism, his reputation destroyed by the critics. Obsessed with discovering the truth about Elimane's disappearance, Faye weaves past and present, countries and continents, following the author's labyrinthine trail from Senegal to Argentina and France and confronting the great tragedies of history. Will he get to the truth at the centre of the maze? A gripping literary quest novel and a masterpiece of perpetual reinvention, The Most Secret Memory of Men confronts the impact of colonialism and neo-colonialism, the holocaust in Europe, dictatorships in South America and the Caribbean, genocide in Africa, and collaboration and resistance everywhere. Above all, it is a love song to literature and its timeless power.
Een afgezette Noordafrikaanse dictator overdenkt voor het vuurpeloton zijn bloedige loopbaan.
Drawing from the fields of history, psychology, politics, and economics, a look at the anxieties associated with a pursuit of status explains how humans have sought to cope with their fears and offers suggestions on ways to deal with the problem
The updated edition of Julian Barnes' best-loved writing on art, with seven new exquisite illustrated essays'Flaubert believed that it was impossible to explain one art form in terms of another, and that great paintings required no words of explanation.
The Achitecture of Happiness is a dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations.One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.
An exploration of the human desire to travel presents a series of essays on airports, museums, landscapes, holiday romances, and hotel mini-bars, offering suggestions on how to render travel more fulfilling.
The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States is a defining moment in American history. After years of failed policies and failed politics from Washington, this is our chance to reclaim the American dream. Barack Obama has proven to be a new kind of leader–one who can bring people together, be honest about the challenges we face, and move this nation forward. Change We Can Believe In outlines his vision for America. In these pages you will find bold and specific ideas about how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence, and keep America safe in a dangerous world. Change We Can Believe In asks us not just to believe in Barack Obama’s ability to bring change to Washington, it asks us to believe in our ability to change the world.
Tereza Raquinová, narodená v Orane, vyrastá u svojej tety vo Vernone so svojím chorľavým bratrancem Kamillom. Teta tlačí na svadbu medzi Terezou a Kamillom. Po svadbe sa rodina presťahuje do Paríža, kde matka otvorí chudobný krajčírski obchod. Tereza a jej teta vedú obchod, zatiaľ čo Kamill pracuje ako malý úradník. Násilne uzavretý manželstvo je bez vášne a nudné. Tereza začne aféru s Lorenzom, najlepším priateľom svojho muža, neúspešným maliarom. Vo svojej vášnivej vzťahu sa domnievajú, že sú šťastní, a plánujú zabiť Kamilla, aby mohli žiť svoju lásku otvorene. Počas nedeľného výletu na Seine Lorenz Kamilla utopí a označí vraždu za nehodu. Po roku sa Tereza a Lorenz vezmú, ale vášeň po vražde slabne. Oboch sužujú nočné mory a výčitky svedomia, halucinácie robia ich život neznesiteľným. Madame Raquin, ktorá je už ochrnutá a nemá reč, je svedkom záchvatu, ale jej obvinenie zostáva bez povšimnutia. Dochádza k vzájomnému obviňovaniu a násiliu, a kedysi vášnivý vzťah končí spoločným samovraždou.
We spend most of our waking lives at work - but surprisingly little gets written about what makes work both one of the most exciting and most painful of all our activities. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Workis an exploration of the joys and perils of the modern workplace, beautifully evoking what other people get up to all day - and all night - to make the frenzied contemporary world function. With a philosophical eye and his characteristic combination of wit and wisdom, Alain de Botton leads us on a journey around a deliberately eclectic range of occupations, from rocket science to biscuit manufacturing, accountancy to art - in the name of exploring what makes our jobs either fulfilling or soul-destroying Along the way de Botton skilfully raises the big questions we all tend to ask of our work- What should I do with my life? How can I combine earning money with attaining fulfilment? What will I have achieved by the end of my career? The book amounts to a celebration and investigation of something as central to a good life as love - but which we often find remarkably hard to reflect on properly. As de Botton points out, most of us are still working at jobs chosen for us by our sixteen-year-old selves. Here, then, is a perfect guide to some of the most vicious anxieties and enticing hopes thrown up by our progress through the working world.
What if religions are neither all true or all nonsense? The boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved on by Alain's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false – and yet that religions still have some very important things to teach the secular world. Religion for Atheists suggests that rather than mocking religions, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from them – because they're packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies. Blending deep respect with total impiety, Alain (a non-believer himself) proposes that we should look to religions for insights into, among other concerns, how to: - build a sense of community - make our relationships last - overcome feelings of envy and inadequacy - escape the twenty-four hour media - go travelling - get more out of art, architecture and music - and create new businesses designed to address our emotional needs. For too long non-believers have faced a stark choice between either swallowing lots of peculiar doctrines or doing away with a range of consoling and beautiful rituals and ideas. At last, in Religion for Atheists, Alain has fashioned a far more interesting and truly helpful alternative.
" ... [In] this rigorous and supremely honest book Alain de Botton helps us navigate the intimate and exciting yet often confusing and difficult experience that is sex. Few of us tend to feel we're entirely normal when it comes to sex, and what we're supposed to be feeling rarely matches up with the reality. This book argues that 21st-century sex is ultimately fated to be a balancing act between love and desire, and adventure and commitment. ..." --Back cover.
Bespiegelingen van een historicus over de Franse cultuur.
Biografie van de Amerikaanse schrijfster (1903-1977).
