Sigrid Nunez

Ecrivaine et professeure à l'université vivant dans un minuscule appartement new-yorkais, la narratrice est contactée par la troisième épouse de son meilleur ami récemment décédé. Celle-ci lui demande la faveur de prendre son chien Apollon. Malgré sa préférence pour les chats et l'interdiction des animaux stipulée dans son bail, elle accepte. La cohabitation avec Apollon, grand danois vieillissant de la taille d'un poney, s'annonce riche en surprises. Magnifique exploration de l'amitié, du deuil, de la littérature et du lien qui nous unit aux animaux, L'Ami est un texte unique en son genre.

From the author of The Friend, winner of the 2018 National Book Award.
The masterpiece of the 'I knew Susan' minigenre - A.O. Scott, The New York Times

A poignant, intimate memoir of one of America's most esteemed and fascinating cultural figures, and a deeply felt tribute.

Sigrid Nunez was an aspiring writer when she first met Susan Sontag, already a legendary figure known for her polemical essays, blinding intelligence, and edgy personal style. Sontag introduced Nunez to her son, the writer David Rieff, and the two began dating. Soon Nunez moved into the apartment that Rieff and Sontag shared. As Sontag told Nunez, "Who says we have to live like everyone else?"

Sontag's influence on Nunez, who went on to become a successful novelist, would be profound. Described by Nunez as "a natural mentor" who saw educating others as both a moral obligation and a source of endless pleasure, Sontag inevitably infected those around her with her many cultural and intellectual passions. In this poignant, intimate memoir, Nunez speaks of her gratitude for having had, as an early model, "someone who held such an exalted, unironic view of the writer's vocation."

Published more than six years after Sontag's death, Sempre Susan is a startlingly truthful portrait of this outsized personality, who made being an intellectual a glamorous occupation.

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog - now in a stunning new edition as part of Virago's 50th anniversary Five Gold Reads seriesWINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD'A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year' FINANCIAL TIMES'Loved this. A funny, moving examination of love, grief, and the uniqueness of dogs' GRAHAM NORTON'Delicious' SUNDAY TIMES 100 BEST SUMMER READSWhen a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.

 A woman visits a friend with terminal cancer. Brilliant, strong-willed and alone, the friend, facing death, makes a momentous request. Will she accompany her on a holiday where she will, without warning one day, take a lethal pill to end her life on her own terms?Shaken and grieving, she finds the strength to agree.

What follows is an extraordinary story - profound, surprising and often funny - of a lifelong friendship given the ultimate challenge; to witness its end. Utterly of our moment and timeless, What Are You Going Through is a deeply moving affirmation of life in its current existential threat and in its ordinary tragedies - the loss, loneliness, and the love that yet survives.

Περιγραφή Μετά τον απροσδόκητο θάνατο του καλύτερου φίλου και μέντορά της μια συγγραφέας βρίσκεται να φροντίζει, προς μεγάλη της δυσαρέσκεια, τον αγαπημένο του σκύλο, έναν μολοσσό. Τραυματισμένος από την απροσδόκητη εξαφάνιση του αφεντικού του, ο σκύλος κάνει και τη δική της θλίψη ακόμα μεγαλύτερη. Η συμπεριφορά της αλλάζει, οι φίλοι της ανησυχούν, ὁ σπιτονοικοκύρης της απειλεί να της κάνει έξωση. Εκείνη με τον καιρό δένεται περισσότερο με το θλιμμένο ζώο και του αφοσιώνεται, προσπαθεί μάλιστα να κατανοήσει τα συναισθήματά του. Ωστόσο, η ιστορία έχει και τις ανατροπές της… Ένα «πανέμορφο βιβλίο για τον θάνατο, το πένθος, την τέχνη και την αγάπη» (Wall Street Journal). Ο Φίλος είναι το πρώτο βιβλίο της Αμερικανίδας Σίγκριντ Νιούνεζ (γενν. 1951) που μεταφράζεται στα ελληνικά. Για το βιβλίο αυτό τιμήθηκε με το Εθνικό Βραβείο Λογοτεχνίας ΗΠΑ το 2018. Έργο Εξωφύλλου Γεύσω Παπαδάκη, Σε Βρίσκει Η Ποίηση (Λεπτ.), 2020