Instead of a Book: Letters to a Friend
Diana Athill
Instead of a Book: Letters to a Friend
A collection of Diana Athill's letters to the American poet Edward Field. This intimate correspondence spanning thirty years covers her final years as an editor at Andre Deutsch, her retirement and immersion in her own writing, her growing fame and encroaching old age. Edited, selected and introduced by Diana Athill.
3.6 out of 5 based on 6 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Essays, Journals & Letters |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
304 |
| RRP |
£20.00 |
| Date of Publication |
October 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-1847084125 |
| Publisher |
Granta Books |
| |
A collection of Diana Athill's letters to the American poet Edward Field. This intimate correspondence spanning thirty years covers her final years as an editor at Andre Deutsch, her retirement and immersion in her own writing, her growing fame and encroaching old age. Edited, selected and introduced by Diana Athill.
Read an extract from the book | Telegraph
Reviews
The Independent
Christina Patterson
"The writing, as always, combines upper-class English matter-of-factness with a self-deprecating humour that's often (and sometimes slightly irritatingly) exacerbated by the use of Random Capital Letters For Wry Emphasis … It's also, as always, imbued with the kind of honesty that sometimes makes you gasp."
07/09/2011
Read Full Review
The New Statesman
Karl Miller
"Both Athill and her American poet have an advanced distaste for obscurity in poetry: "The purpose of language is communication." Her letters communicate. "How good they are!" she felt when she reread them. And she was right."
06/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Sunday Times
Daisy Goodwin
"Athill is a wonderful letter writer — always aware of the need to entertain and beguile her reader. Although there are moments of high emotion (the death of her mother; the decline of her lover, the Jamaican playwright Barry Reckford) the tone is brisk, benevolent and beady-eyed."
02/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Guardian
Alexandra Harris
"Fluent, confiding, dawdling for a bit, then speeding into an anecdote, these letters allow us to eavesdrop on a conversation which is all the more seductive because Athill did not expect anyone else to be listening."
01/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Financial Times
David Evans
"Though the book contains some lively discussion of literature and politics (“if those fuckers plunge us into war ... ”), it is memorable mostly for the author’s wry musings on hearing aids and cataract operations. But Athill is never remotely maudlin or self-pitying, and she describes beautifully those “lovely moments of pure being” that make it all worthwhile."
07/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Spectator
Cressida Connolly
"Instead of a Book is probably a better companion piece than introduction, but readers unfamiliar with Athill’s other work will still find much to enjoy, as well as learn from."
08/10/2011
Read Full Review