John Sutherland is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus at University College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was Chair of the Man-Booker Prize panel in 2005. Stephen Fender was born in San Francisco, and educated at Stanford and the Universities of Wales and Manchester. At present he is an Honorary Professor of English at UCL.
Love, sex, death, boredom, ecstasy, existential angst, political upheaval - the history of literature offers a rich and varied exploration of the human condition across the centuries. This title focuses on the curious artefacts that literature has to offer. It lets you find out why 16 June 1904 mattered so much to Joyce.
John Sutherland is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus at University College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was Chair of the Man-Booker Prize panel in 2005. Stephen Fender was born in San Francisco, and educated at Stanford and the Universities of Wales and Manchester. At present he is an Honorary Professor of English at UCL.
This book (co-authored with an old pal, Stephen Fender; Sutherland
excels in the Victoriana, while Fender is the Americanist) should
bring delight to many, sell tons and keep as many ex-wives as any
of us could wish for in scones and jam... It's a smart idea, well
executed. Its prime virtue is the dense agglomeration of trivia
around even well-known events.
*Sam Leith, Spectator*
I've had tremendous fun reading [the entries] - arguing with some,
substituting others, quoting them over lunch - and pleasure is at
the heart of this project. It's irresistible, as compulsive as
eating popcorn. Hawthorne and Melville meet for the first time,
Petrarch catches first sight of Laura, Picasso, Joyce, Stravinsky
and Diaghilev and Proust dine together at the Majestic, Anthony
Burgess (like Scott and Whitman before him) gives a glowing review
to his own book, Defoe invents the novel, but doesn't know what to
call it, Bertolt Brecht testifies before HUAC, Jeffrey Archer 'goes
down'.
*Guardian*
'Love Sex Death Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature'
- the title itself is irresistible - by John Sutherland and Stephen
Fender (Icon Books), is an enjoyable and entirely arbitrary romp
through a leap year of anecdotes, from January 1st and the vexed
history of the copyright of Peter Pan to the December 31st
publication of Richard Yates's 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, with
stops along the way to visit Nietzsche at his typing lessons and
Alexander Pope at his doctor's. Good, clean, harmless fun.
*John Banville, Irish Times*
Bibliophiles are recommended to test the learned waters of 'Love,
Sex, Death and Words' (Icon, £20) by John Sutherland and Stephen
Fender, which takes us on an urbane, day-by-day amble through the
year, recounting events of literary import. Here you will find an
abundance of mortarboard humour and recondite jewels: the truth
behind Thomas Carlyle's wedding night, for instance.
*Sunday Telegraph*
Doesn't the Trades Descriptions Act cover book titles? How can
'Love, Sex, Death & Words' be justified for a volume of literary
dates, all based on the solitary act of an author sitting down
quietly with a quill, pencil, typewriter or keyboard? In fact, not
only the fourth noun but also the first three are mots justes for
the entrancing events detailed here.
*Independent*
A huge anthology of essays about writers and books, 365 in fact,
one for every day of the year, although few readers will be unable
to resist reading on through several articles every time they pick
up the book.
*Common Reader*
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