Life and Work: Writers, Readers, and the Conversations between Them

Acclaimed Novelist And Critic Tim Parks Has Long Been Fascinated By The Complicated Relationship Between An Author's Life And Work. Dissatisfied With The Dominant Modes Of Reading He Encountered, He Began Exploring The Underlying Values And Patterns That Guide Authors In Both Their Writing And Their Lives. In A Series Of Provocative, Incisive, And Unflinching Essays Written Over The Past Decade And Collected For The First Time Here, He Reveals How Style And Content In A Novel Reflect A Whole Pattern Of Communication And Positioning In The Author's Ordinary And Daily Behaviour. We See How Life And Work Are Deeply Enmeshed In The Work Of Writers As Diverse As Charles Dickens, Feodor Dostoevsky, James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, Philip Roth, Julian Barnes, Peter Stamm, And Geoff Dyer, Among Others. Charles Dickens -- Feodor Dostoevsky : Crime Or Punishment -- Thomas Hardy -- Anton Chekhov -- James Joyce -- Samuel Beckett -- Georges Simenon -- Muriel Spark -- Philip Roth -- J.m. Coetzee -- Julian Barnes -- Colm Tóibín -- Geoff Dyer -- Peter Stamm -- Graham Swift -- Dave Eggers -- Haruki Murakami -- Peter Matthiessen -- Stieg Larsson -- E.l. James. Tim Parks. Essays. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 301-302) And Index.