The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana by Maryse Conde

The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana by Maryse Conde

Born in Guadeloupe, Ivan and Ivana are twins with a bond so strong they become afraid of their feelings for one another.  When their mother sends them off to live with their father in Mali they begin to grow apart, until, as young adults in Paris, Ivana's youthful altruism compels her to join the police academy, while Ivan, stunted by early experiences of rejection and exploitation, walks the path of radicalization. The twins, unable to live either with or without each other, become perpetrator and victim in a wave of violent attacks.  In The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana, Maryse Conde, winner of the 2018 Alternative Nobel prize in literature, touches upon major contemporary issues such as racism, terrorism, political corruption, economic inequality, globalization, and migration. With her most modern novel to date, this master storyteller offers an impressive picture of a colorful yet turbulent 21st century. 'Scandal is at thecenter of two of Conde's newly translated novels, both of which show her at hersignature best: offering complex, polyphonic and ultimately shattering storieswhose provocations linger long after their final pages.The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana, one of many works wryly rendered in English byConde's translator husband, was written in the wake of the Charlie Hebdoattacks in Paris and takes on the feedback loop of global inequity andradicalisation. The conceit is deceptively straightforward: Ivan and Ivana aretwins born to a single Guadeloupean mother, and as they grow up they adore eachother above all else in the world. In fact, their bond is so strong that ittips over into incestuous passions they must be vigilant not to consummate. Yetdespite their closeness, they grow to be as different as night and day, or intheir case, terrorist and police hero...This book is a reflection on the dangers ofbinary thinking, and the Wilde line 'Each man kills the thing he loves' servesas a kind of refrain for the mutually destructive passions between West andEast, black and white, purist and pervert.' - The New York Times Book Review 'What an astounding novel. Never have I read anything so wild and loving, so tender and ruthless. Conde is one of our greatest writers, a literary sorcerer but here she has outdone even herself, summoned a storm from out of the world's troubled heart. Ivan and Ivana, in their love, in their Attic fates, mirror our species' terrible brokenness and it's improbable grace.' - Junot Daz 'The breadth, depth, and power of Maryse Conde's majestic work is exceptionally remarkable. The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana is a superb addition to this incomparable oeuvre, and is one of Conde's most timely, virtuoso, and breathtaking novels.' - Edwidge Danticat

Maryse Condewas born in Guadeloupe in 1937 as the youngest of eight siblings. She earned her MA and PhD in Comparative Literature at Paris-Sorbonne University and went on to have a distinguished academic career, receiving the title of Professor Emerita of French at Columbia University in New York, where she taught and lived for many years. She has also lived in various West African countries, most notably in Mali, where she gained inspiration for her worldwide bestseller Segu, for which she was awarded the African Literature Prize and several other respected French awards. Conde was awarded the 2018 New Academy Prize (or "Alternative Nobel") in Literature as well as the 2021 Prix Mondial Cino del Duca for her oeuvre. She also received the Grand-Croix de l'Ordre national du Merite from President Emmanuel Macron in 2020.

Richard Philcox, based in the Provence-Alpes-Cte d'Azur region in France, is Maryse Conde's husband and translator. He has also published new translations of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks. He has taught translation on various American campuses and won grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts for the translation of Conde's works.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781642860696
ISBN 10	1642860697
Title	The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana
Author	Maryse Conde
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	World Editions
Year published	2020-05-05
Number of pages	368
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.