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Double Negative is a subtle triptych that captures the ordinary life of Neville Lister during South Africa’s extraordinary revolution. Ivan Vladislavić lays moments side by side like photographs on a table. He lucidly portrays a city and its many lives through reflections on memory, art and what we should really be looking for.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49550433583377,"sku":"GOR005764459","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50630325403921,"sku":"CIN1908276266VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50789506089233,"sku":"GOR005765016","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51693979566353,"sku":"CIN1908276266G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53073934483729,"sku":"NIN9781908276261","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1908276266.jpg?v=1751380121"},{"product_id":"portrait-with-keys-book-ivan-vladislavic-9781846270604","title":"Portrait With Keys","description":"In the wake of apartheid, the flotsam of the divided past flows over Johannesburg and settles, once the tides recede, around Ivan Vladislavic, who, patrolling his patch, surveys the changed cityscape and tries to convey for us the nature and significance of those changes. He roams over grassy mine-dumps, sifting memories, picking up the odd glittering item here and there, before everything of value gets razed or locked away behind one or other of the city's fortifications. For this is now a city of alarms, locks and security guards, a frontier place whose boundaries are perpetually contested, whose inhabitants are 'a tribe of turnkeys'. Vladislavic, this clerk of mementoes, stands still, watches and writes - and his astonishing city comes within our reach. This is for readers who want to put their faith in a writer who knows - and loves - his city from the inside out, bearing comparison with Suketu Mehta's Maximum City, Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul and Joseph Brodsky's Watermark.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49558830809361,"sku":"GOR002805595","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49736844902673,"sku":"NGR9781846270604","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53119209537809,"sku":"GOR001268788","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/184627060X.jpg?v=1759232769"},{"product_id":"distance-book-ivan-vladislavic-9781939810762","title":"The Distance","description":"In the spring of 1970, a Pretoria schoolboy, Joe, becomes obsessed with Muhammad Ali. 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When he calls upon his brother, Branko, for help uncovering their shared past, meaning comes into view in the spaces between then and now, growing up and growing old, speaking out and keeping silent.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49569805238545,"sku":"GOR011546398","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49738489463057,"sku":"NGR9781939810762","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50008302223633,"sku":"GOR010843455","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50404072423697,"sku":"CIN1939810760G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53369010651409,"sku":"CIN1939810760VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1939810760.jpg?v=1750868294"},{"product_id":"restless-supermarket-book-ivan-vladislavic-9781908276322","title":"The Restless Supermarket","description":"It is 1993, and Aubrey Tearle’s world is shutting down. He has recently retired from a lifetime of proofreading telephone directories. His favourite neighbourhood haunt in Johannesburg, the Café Europa, is about to close its doors; the familiar old South Africa is already gone. Standards, he grumbles, are in decline, so bad-tempered, conservative Tearle embarks on a grandiose plan to enlighten his fellow citizens. The results are disastrous, hilarious and poignant.   A classic novel about the post-apartheid era, brimming with surprising perspectives, urban satire, riotous imagery and outrageous wordplay. Vladislavić’s tour de force was awarded the South African Sunday Times Fiction Prize.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49576385315089,"sku":"GOR005714130","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50291395428625,"sku":"CIN1908276320G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50583269507345,"sku":"GOR008258470","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51056756261137,"sku":"NIN9781908276322","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52085196390673,"sku":"NGR9781908276322","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52119410704657,"sku":"GOR014493326","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53555732152593,"sku":"GOR006638413","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53574717145361,"sku":"CIN1908276320VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1908276320.jpg?v=1751187226"},{"product_id":"folly-the-book-ivan-vladislavic-9781897959114","title":"The Folly, The","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49610399613201,"sku":"GOR001905306","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1897959117.jpg?v=1751427609"},{"product_id":"portrait-with-keys-book-ivan-vladislavic-9780393335408","title":"Portrait with Keys","description":"Surely one of the most ingenious love lettersfull of violence, fear, humour, and cunningever addressed to a city. 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A Detective needs a language almost as much as a language needs a Detective.  In this new collection of stories, award-winning author Ivan Vladislavić invites readers to do some detective work of their own. Each story can be read as just that – a story – or you can dig a little deeper. Take a closer look, examine the artefact from all angles, and consider the clues and patterns concealed within.  Whether skewering extreme marketing techniques or constructing dystopian parallel universes; whether mourning a mother’s loss or tracing a translator’s on-stage breakdown, Vladislavić’s pitch-perfect inquisitions will make you question your own language – how it defines you, and how it undoes you.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49909704851729,"sku":"CIN1908276568G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1908276568.jpg?v=1750804345"},{"product_id":"folly-book-ivan-vladislavic-9780914671374","title":"The Folly","description":"A vacant patch of South African veld next to the comfortable, complacent Malgas household has been taken over by a mysterious, eccentric figure with a plan. Fashioning his tools out of recycled garbage, the stranger enlists Malgas's help in clearing the land and planning his mansion. Slowly but inevitably, the stranger's charm and the novel's richly inventive language draws Malgas into the plan and he sees, feels and moves into the new building. Then, just as remorselessly, all that seemed solid begins to melt back into air.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49910714204433,"sku":"CIN0914671375G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0914671375.jpg?v=1750787516"},{"product_id":"flashback-hotel-book-ivan-vladislavic-9781939810113","title":"Flashback Hotel","description":"Ivan Vladislavic's latest collection of short stories exemplifies the sly wit and formal innovation that have gained him international acclaim.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50012779938065,"sku":"GOR009931462","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50765221101841,"sku":"CIN1939810116VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51149705380113,"sku":"CIN1939810116G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51588455203089,"sku":"GOR014338368","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51797899739409,"sku":"GOR014406446","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1939810116.jpg?v=1751429138"},{"product_id":"loss-library-and-other-unfinished-stories-book-ivan-vladislavic-9780857420121","title":"The Loss Library and Other Unfinished Stories","description":"\"Not writing is always a relief and sometimes a pleasure. Writing about what cannot be written, by contrast, is the devil's own job.\" In this unusual text, a blend of essay, fiction, and literary genealogy, South African novelist Ivan Vladislavic explores the problems and potentials of the fictions he could not bring himself to write. Drawing from his notebooks of the past twenty years, Vladislavic records here a range of ideas for stories - unsettled accounts, he calls them, or case studies of failure - and examines where they came from and why they eluded him. In the process, he reveals some of the principles that matter to him as a writer, and pays tribute to the writers - such as Walser, Perec, Sterne, and DeLillo - who have been important to him as both a reader and an author. At the heart of the text, like a brightly lit room in a field of debris, stands Vladislavic's \"Loss Library\" itself, the shelves laden with books that have never been written. On the page, Vladislavic tells us, every loss may yet be recovered. An extraordinary book about both the nature of novels and the process of writing, \"The Loss Library\" will appeal to anyone seeking to understand the almost magical and mythical experience of breathing life into a new work of fiction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50155767005457,"sku":"CIN0857420127G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0857420127.jpg?v=1750915606"},{"product_id":"exploded-view-book-ivan-vladislavic-9780914671688","title":"The Exploded View","description":"The Exploded View, from the masterful South African novelist Ivan Vladislavic, tells the story of four lives intertwined through the sprawling infrastructure on the margins of Johhanesburg: a stastician taking the national census, an engineer out on the town with city officials, an artist interested in genocide, and a contractor who puts up billboards on construction sites. Arcing across distance and time, Vladislavic deftly explodes our comfortable views and brings us behind the curtains of the city while subtly expanding our notions of what is possible in the novel form.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50185750544657,"sku":"CIN0914671685G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50487962272017,"sku":"GOR008601530","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53591942922513,"sku":"GOR008397907","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0914671685.jpg?v=1751331335"},{"product_id":"loss-library-and-other-unfinished-stories-book-ivan-vladislavic-9780857425881","title":"The Loss Library and Other Unfinished Stories","description":"“Not writing is always a relief and sometimes a pleasure. Writing about what cannot be written, by contrast, is the devil’s own job.”  In this unusual text, a blend of essay, fiction, and literary genealogy, South African novelist Ivan Vladislavic explores the problems and potentials of the fictions he could not bring himself to write. Drawing from his notebooks of the past twenty years, Vladislavic records here a range of ideas for stories—unsettled accounts, he calls them, or case studies of failure—and examines where they came from and why they eluded him. In the process, he reveals some of the principles that matter to him as a writer, and pays tribute to the writers— such as Walser, Perec, Sterne, and DeLillo—who have been important to him as both a reader and an author. At the heart of the text, like a brightly lit room in a field of debris, stands Vladislavic’s Loss Library itself, the shelves laden with books that have never been written. On the page, Vladislavic tells us, every loss may yet be recovered. An extraordinary book about both the nature of novels and the process of writing, The Loss Library will appeal to anyone seeking to understand the almost magical and mythical experience of breathing life into a new work of fiction. Praise for Vladislavic “In the tradition of Elias Canetti, a tour de force of the imagination.”—André Brink “The prose is stunning. It gives the impression of the words and the phrases having been caught from the inside—as though the author lives on the other side of language, where every word is strange and dancing, and the way they are put together produces complicated patterned exchanges like minuets.”—Tony Morphet","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50370517991697,"sku":"CIN0857425889G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50370522120465,"sku":"CIN0857425889VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0857425889.jpg?v=1751076972"},{"product_id":"mikhael-subotzky-and-patrick-waterhouse-ponte-city-revisited-book-ivan-vladislavic-9783958297616","title":"Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse: Ponte City Revisited","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA greatly expanded and updated trade edition of the much-lauded photobook about an iconic Johannesburg apartment building\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse worked at Ponte City, the iconic Johannesburg apartment building and Africa's tallest residential skyscraper, for more than six years, photographing its residents and exhaustively documenting the building--every door, the view from every window, the image on every television screen. A sequence of essays and documentary texts is also integrated into the visual story. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis expanded edition includes images not included in the original, as well as installation shots from the project's exhibitions around the world. In the essays, some of South Africa's leading scholars and writers explore Ponte City's unique place in Johannesburg and in the imagination of its citizens. What emerges is a complex portrait of a place shaped by contending projections, a single, unavoidable building seen as refuge and monstrosity, dreamland and dystopia, a lightning rod for a society's hopes and fears. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMikhael Subotzky\u003c\/b\u003e (born 1981) is a South African artist working across mediums including film, photography, painting and collage. Subotzky's work is held in public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Tate Modern, London, and the San Francisco Museum of Art. He lives and works in Johannesburg. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePatrick Waterhouse\u003c\/b\u003e (born 1981) is a British photographer whose projects are often collaborative, shaped by close engagement with his subjects. His work is held in collections including the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Centre Pompidou, Paris. His most recent book is \u003ci\u003eRestricted Images\u003c\/i\u003e (2018).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51201487634705,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51201490387217,"sku":"NGR9783958297616","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/3958297617.jpg?v=1751416653"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-ie\/collections\/author-books-by-ivan-vladislavic.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}