Great Writers In 90 Minutes

Samuel Beckett's work evokes passionate responses: readers and playgoers either revere it or consider it a load of pretentious nonsense. But his philosophy of pessimism will always find a new generation of young readers, for it bursts the rainbow soap bubbles of illusion, leaving us blinking with stinging eyes at unremitting reality. Beckett's defeatism was no soft choice: he had iron in his soul and the wry humor of those who withstand all misfortune, who never admit final defeat. Beckett in 90 Minutes offers a concise, expert account of Beckett's life and ideas and explains their influence on literature and on man's struggle to understand his place in the world. The book also includes a list of Beckett's chief works, a chronology of his life and times, and recommended reading for those who wish to delve deeper.

By the end of his life, Lawrence had despaired of Western civilization, which he felt had corrupted and weakened the human spirit. He believed that we had somehow lost touch with our instinctual being and no longer responded to the 'true voice' of our blood. We still possessed such truth deep within us, but it was smothered by a dead culture. His works were an attempt to revive a life we have lost, and in them it is possible to glimpse something vivid, something now damaged, that we nonetheless recognize in ourselves. At his best, Lawrence reminds us of what we are, what it is we have lost. But it is a very tenuous argument, for all the vividness with which it is evoked. In Lawrence, deep sense often coexists with empty nonsense. The ranter coexisted with the prophet, just as his often dubious message coexisted with some of the finest writing in the English language. Lawrence had a genius for evocation, both of a past that may never in fact have existed and of a luminous present that exists as never before in his words. This is his undeniable legacy. Building on his enormously successful Philosophers in 90 Minutes series, Paul Strathern now applies his witty and incisive prose to brief biographical studies of the world's great writers. He brings their lives and ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion. Far from being a novelty, each book is a highly refined appraisal of the writer and his work, authoritative and clearly presented.

A handsome recluse, plagued by indecision and hypochondria, Kafka nonetheless exhibited an extraordinary strength. He developed the uncanny ability to observe himself with cool objectivity, and he cultivated this ability in his writing, where it appeared in increasingly original metaphorical form. His works became among the greatest of the twentieth century, and his influence permeated far and wide, transcending literature. His descriptions of his attempts to escape from a self-made tyranny are his great works of art. Kafka in 90 Minutes also includes selections from Kafka's writings, a list of his chief works in English translation, a chronology of Kafka's life and times, and recommended reading for those who wish to delve deeper.

Weaving fiction with fact, fantastic matter with historical figures, Borges' frequent theme of a world where time, culture, and place converge is both timely and pertinent in our advance toward globalization. Drawing from his multi-ethnic and -lingual upbringing in Argentina, Borges' focus on universal themes early on came to belittle the sentiments of racism and communism, earning him widespread recognition. His work is both timeless and touching, a product of deep suffering and incorrigible innocence. Borges in 90 Minutes offers a concise, expert account of Borges' life and ideas and explains their influence on literature and on man's struggle to understand his place in the world. The book also includes a list of Borges' chief works, a chronology of his life and times, and recommended reading for those who wish to delve deeper.

García Márquez stands on the shoulders of a great Latin American literary heritage. But he is also that modern rarity, a writer with aspirations to high art who also remains hugely popular. For those who fall under his spell, his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, is one of the richest literary dreams ever written. Its "magical realism" has influenced writers the world over. In García Márquez in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of García Márquez's life and ideas and explains their influence on literature and on man's struggle to understand his place in the world. The 90 Minutes series includes brief but authoritative interpretations of the world's great writers, bringing their lives and ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion, and making them comprehensible and interesting to almost everyone.

Building on his enormously successful series of Philosophers in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern now applies his witty and incisive prose to brief biographical studies of the world's great writers. He brings their lives and ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion. After narrowly avoiding a firing squad when he was just twenty-eight years old, Dostoevsky never took things lightly. His great novels burst upon the European literary scene like a succession of thunderbolts. His understanding of the darker and more extreme recesses of the human mind cast a forceful light into these areas of experience. The raw psychology and passionate involvement of his books galvanized writers and thinkers as disparate as Nietzsche and Kafka. In Dostoevsky in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Dostoevsky's life and ideas and explains their influence on literature and on man's struggle to understand his place in the world. The book also includes selections from Dostoevsky's writings and recommended reading for those who wish to delve deeper.

From a young age, James Joyce showed a precocious, original intellect and a confidence in his own artistic destiny. He would indeed go on to transform the nature of modern literature, employing a unique stream-of-consciousness technique rich in symbolism and wordplay. Through his art, the Dublin native sought to reveal the radiance and meaning that lurks in the everyday world, "the soul of the commonest object," evoking a heightened sense of consciousness within the grit of common life. James Joyce in 90 Minutes offers a concise, expert account of Joyce's life and ideas, and explains their influence on literature and on man's struggle to understand his place in the world. The book also includes a list of Joyce's chief works, a chronology of his life and times, and recommended reading for those who wish to delve deeper.

A highly sensitive and intelligent child, Virginia Woolf grew up in a large family prone to psychological instability. Throughout her life, she was subject to periods of mental breakdown, yet when she was lucid she was capable of a uniquely perceptive and frank introspection. Under the influence of the Bloomsbury Group and their progressive social attitudes, she became experimental in her life and art, breaking with convention to produce some of the finest and most unique literary works of the twentieth century. Virginia Woolf in 90 Minutes offers a concise, expert account of Woolf's life and ideas and explains their influence on literature and on man's struggle to understand his place in the world. The book also includes a list of Woolf's chief works, a chronology of her life and times, and recommended reading for those who wish to delve deeper.