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Essays Two

Essays Two

by Lydia Davis

Farrar, Straus and Giroux ·2021 ·592 pages
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
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Maybe Someday

47/99

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About This Book

A collection of essays on translation, foreign languages, Proust, and one French city, from the master short-fiction writer and acclaimed translator Lydia Davis Lydia Davis, who has been called "a magician of self-consciousness" by Jonathan Franzen and "the best prose stylist in America" by Rick Moody, gathered a selection of her essays for the first time in 2019 with Essays One. Now, Davis continues her non-fiction project with Essays Two. This edition will, for the first time, collect Lydia Davis's essays and talks on the art of translation, the experience of translating Proust, Flaubert and Michel Leiris, learning a foreign language through reading, and an extended immersion in the city of Arles. Davis, winner of the Man Booker International Prize for her fiction and finalist for the National Book Award, showcases her sharp literary mind and invaluable insight in this new collection of her nonfiction works.


Reviews

"Thorough, idiosyncratic, and inimitable, Davis is the kind of intelligent and attentive reader a book is lucky to find."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Davis makes translation seem like a sublime exercise of mind and self ..."

Adam Colman· The Boston Globe Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Her goal of staying as close as possible to the vocabulary of the original novels leads her far down the path of etymology, both in English and in French ..."

Elaine Blair· New York Review of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Davis is a literary treasure."

Jonathan Russell Clark· The Minneapolis Star Tribune Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"The voice of these essays never forgets its own limitations, or the inherent comedy of passing critical judgment."

Tim Adams· The Guardian Read review ↗ Near the Top

"whatever the topic, Davis is always superb company: erudite, adventurous, surprising ..."

Molly Young· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"We come away from Essays Two with renewed respect for a writer whose grasp of languages is profound, and whose capacity to shape-shift from one to another is quite exceptional."

Phillip Lopate· Times Literary Supplement Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"[An] immersive collection ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"a collection of exacting, entertaining, and instructive reflections on [Davis's] lifelong preoccupation with other languages."

Donna Seaman· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

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