Cultural Amnesia by Clive James

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Cultural Amnesia by Clive James

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Summary

Containing over 100 essays, this book focuses the careers of thinkers, humanists, musicians, artists and philosophers. It features Louis Armstrong, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, Franz Kafka and Marcel Proust.

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Cultural Amnesia by Clive James

'In the forty years it took me to write this book, I only gradually realized that the finished work, if it were going to be true to the pattern of my experience, would have no pattern ...The book I wanted to write had its origins in the books I was reading. Several times, in my early days, I had to sell my best books to buy food, so I never underlined anything. When conditions improved I became less fastidious. Not long after I began marking passages for future consideration, I also began keeping notes in the margin beside the markings, and then longer notes on the end papers ...As the time for assembling my reflections approached, I resolved that a premature synthesis was the thing to be avoided. So this is a book about how not to reach one. If I have done my job properly, themes will emerge from the apparent randomness and make this work intelligible. But it will undoubtedly be a turbulent read, and if this book were not difficult, it would not be true.' A lifetime in the making, "Cultural Amnesia" is the book Clive James has always wanted to write. Organized from A through to Z, and containing over 100 essays, it's the ultimate guide to the twentieth century, illuminating the careers of many of its greatest thinkers, humanists, musicians, artists and philosophers. From Louis Armstrong to Ludwig Wittgenstein, via Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, Franz Kafka and Marcel Proust, it's a book for our times and, indeed, for all time.
Clive James was the author of more than forty books. As well as essays, he published collections of literary and television criticism, travel writing, verse and novels, plus five volumes of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England, May Week Was In June, North Face of Soho and The Blaze of Obscurity. As a television performer he appeared regularly for both the BBC and ITV, most notably as writer and presenter of the Postcard series of travel documentaries. He published several poetry collections, including the Sunday Times bestseller Sentenced to Life, and a translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, which was also a Sunday Times bestseller. In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins memorial medal for literature. He holds honorary doctorates from Sydney University and the University of East Anglia. In 2012 he was appointed CBE and in 2013, an Officer of the Order of Australia. He died in 2019.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780330481748
ISBN 10 0330481746
Title Cultural Amnesia
Author Clive James
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Year published 2007-05-18
Number of pages 912
Prizes Short-listed for Prime Minister's Literary Awards (Australia): Non-Fiction 2008
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable