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Bellos, David
David Bellos (born 1945) is an English-born translator and biographer. Bellos is Meredith Howland Pyne Professor of French Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University in the United States. He was director of Princeton's Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication from its inception in 2007 until July 1, 2019. Biography Bellos' research topics have included Honoré de Balzac and Georges Perec. Bellos published a translation of Perec's most famous novel, ''Life A User's Manual'', in 1987. He won the first Man Booker International Prize for translation in 2005 for his translations of works by Albanian author Ismail Kadare, despite not speaking Albanian. His translations were done from previous French translations."The Englishing of Ismail Kadare" by David Bellos, '' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in the French language, by citizens of other nations such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, etc. is referred to as Francophone literature. France itself ranks first on the list of Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prizes in literature by country. For centuries, French literature has been an object of national pride for French people, and it has been one of the most influential components of the literature of Europe. One of the first known examples of French literature is the The Song of Roland, Song of Roland, the first major work in a series of poems known as, "Chanson de geste, chansons de geste". The French language is a Romance languages, Romance language derived from Latin a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
W, Or The Memory Of Childhood
''W, or the Memory of Childhood'' (french: W ou le souvenir d'enfance) is a semi-autobiographical work of fiction by Georges Perec, published in 1975. Perec's novel consists of alternating chapters of autobiography and of a fictional story, divided into two parts. The autobiographical thread is a collection of uncertain memories, as well as descriptions of photos which preserve moments from Perec's childhood. The memories in the first part of the book lead up to Perec's separation from his mother when he was evacuated in the Second World War. The second part recollects his life as an evacuee. The adult narrator sometimes provides interpretations of the childhood memories, and often comments on details of the memories which his research showed to be false or borrowed. Plot In the first part, the fictional narrator is contacted by a mysterious individual, who informs him of the disappearance of a deaf and dumb boy in a shipwreck. The boy is also called Gaspard Winkler—the adul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education Simenon was born at 26 (now number 24) to Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll. Désiré Simenon worked in an accounting office at an insurance company and had married Henriette in April 1902. Although Simenon was born on Friday 13 February 1903, superstition resulted in his birth being registered as having been on the 12th. This story of his birth is recounted at the beginning of his novel ''Pedigree (novel), Pedigree''. The Simenon family traces its origins back to Belgium, Belgian Limburg. Simenon could trace his line back to peasants living in the area since as early as 1580. His mother had origins from Limburg, the Netherlands and Germany while his father was of Walloon origin.Becker, Lucille Frackman. "Georges Simenon ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hocus Bogus
''Hocus Bogus'' (french: Pseudo) is a 1976 novel by the French writer Romain Gary, published under the pseudonym Émile Ajar. The book was written after Paul Pavlowitch, the son of Gary's cousin, had been presented as the man behind the pseudonym Ajar. It asserts to tell the story of Pavlowitch's literary experiences from his own perspective, and comments on the recent success with ''The Life Before Us'', the subsequent speculation that the author might be Gary, as well as explains his reclusiveness with the revelation that he has schizophrenia. Reception Michael Dirda reviewed the book in ''The Washington Post'' in 2010, and wrote that "In truth, ''Hocus Bogus'' is an utterly convincing impersonation of an artistically gifted schizophrenic, worthy to stand on the same shelf as Paul Ableman's classic ''I Hear Voices'' and Louis Wolfson's ''Le Schizo et les Langues''." Dirda commented on how the book successfully had suppressed the rumours that Ajar was somebody else than Pavlowit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romain Gary
Romain Gary (; 2 December 1980), born Roman Kacew (, and also known by the pen name Émile Ajar), was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt under two names. He is considered a major writer of French literature of the second half of the 20th century. He was married to Lesley Blanch, then Jean Seberg. Early life Gary was born Roman Kacew ( yi, ''Roman Katsev'', russian: link=no, Рома́н Ле́йбович Ка́цев, ''Roman Leibovich Katsev'') in Vilnius (at that time in the Russian Empire). In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his parents' origins, ancestry, occupation and his own childhood. His mother, Mina Owczyńska (1879—1941), was a Jewish actress from Švenčionys (Svintsyán) and his father was a businessman named Arieh-Leib Kacew (1883—1942) from Trakai (Trok), also a Lithuanian Jew. The couple broke in 1925 and Arieh-Leib remarried. Gary l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hélène Berr
Hélène Berr (27 March 1921 – 10 April 1945) was a French woman of Jewish ancestry and faith, who documented her life in a diary during the time of Nazi occupation of France. In France she is considered to be a "French Anne Frank". Life Hélène Berr was born in Paris, France, a member of a Jewish family that had lived in France for several generations. She studied Russian and English literature at the Sorbonne university. She also played the violin. She was not able to pass her final exam at the university because the anti-Semitic laws of the Vichy regime prevented her from doing so. She was active in the ''Union générale des israélites de France'' (UGIF, General Organization of Jews in France). On 8 March 1944 Hélène and her parents were captured and taken to Drancy internment camp and from there were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp on 27 March 1944. In early November 1944 Hélène was transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Siege (Kadare Novel)
''The Siege'' (also known as ''The Castle'') is a novel by Albanian author Ismail Kadare, first published in 1970 in Tirana as ''Kështjella''. It tells about the Albanian-Ottoman war during the time of Skanderbeg. It was translated into French by Jusuf Vrioni and then from French into English by David Bellos under the title ''The Siege''. Bellos in his afterword suggests that the book is patterned after Marin Barleti's work '' The Siege of Shkodra''. The narrator of the novel is however not an Albanian fighting for Skanderbeg but a member of the besieging Ottoman army. References 1970 novels Novels by Ismail Kadare Novels set in Albania Novels set in the 15th century Canongate Books books {{1970s-hist-novel-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agamemnon's Daughter
''Agamemnon's Daughter'' ( sq, Vajza e Agamemnonit) is a 2003 novella by the Albanian writer and inaugural International Man Booker Prize winner Ismail Kadare. It is the first part of a diptych of which the second and longer part is '' The Successor''. It is considered by many critics to be one of the author's greatest works. Background Written in 1985, during the last years of the stalinist regime in Albania, together with ''The Shadow'' and '' A Bird Flying South'', ''Agamemnon's Daughter'' was one of the three literary manuscripts Ismail Kadare managed to smuggle out of Albania just after the death of Enver Hoxha, and with the help of French editor and translator Claude Durand. The first pages of the three manuscripts were masked as Albanian translations of works by Siegfried Lenz, before Durand travelled to Tirana to get the remainder of the novels and successfully deposit them in a safe at the Banque de la Cité in Paris. Translated by the famous Albanian violinist, Tedi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Successor (Kadare)
''The Successor'' ( sq, Pasardhësi) is a 2003 novel by the Albanian writer and inaugural International Man Booker Prize winner Ismail Kadare. It is the second part of a diptych of which the first part is the novella '' Agamemnon's Daughter''. The diptych is ranked by many critics among the author's greatest works. Background '' Agamemnon's Daughter'', the prequel to ''The Successor'', was written in 1985 and smuggled out of Albania before the collapse of the Hoxhaist regime, but it was published almost two decades later, after Kadare had already composed ''The Successor'' as its companion-piece. As opposed to the more personal '' Agamemnon's Daughter'', ''The Successor'' is much more grounded in actual history, presenting a fictional account of the events that may have led to the still-unexplained 1981 death of Mehmet Shehu, Albania's long-time Prime Minister during the Cold War and Enver Hoxha's most trusted ally and designated number two ever since the death of Stalin and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Vargas
Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau (born 7 June 1957), a French historian, archaeologist and novelist. As a historian and archeologist, she is known for her work on the Black Death. Her crime fiction ''policiers'' (police procedurals) have won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009. She is the first author to achieve such an honour. In each case, her translator into English was Siân Reynolds, who was also recognized by the international award. Career as archaeologist Audoin-Rouzeau worked at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), which she joined in 1988. She later joined the Institut Pasteur, as a eukaryotic archaeologist. She has undertaken a project on the epidemiology of the Black Death and bubonic plague, the result of which was a work considered definitive in the research area: ''Les chemins de la peste'' (Routes of the Plague) (2003). C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spring Flowers, Spring Frost
''Spring Flowers, Spring Frost'' is a 2000 novel by Albanian author Ismail Kadare set in the 1990s when feuding and vendetta had returned to the country after the fall of the communist regime. The English translation by David Bellos was first published by The Harvill Press in 2002, and then by Vintage Books in 2003. It was translated not directly from Albanian, but from the French translation by Jusuf Vrioni (published by Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...). References 2000 novels Novels by Ismail Kadare Novels set in Albania Novels set in the 1990s Onufri Publishing House books {{Albania-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Ifrah
Georges Ifrah (1947 – 1 November 2019) was a teacher of mathematics, a French author and a self-taught historian of mathematics, especially numerals. His work, ''From One to Zero: A Universal History of Numbers'' (1985, 1994) was translated into multiple languages, became an international bestseller, and was included in ''American Scientists list of "100 or so Books that shaped a Century of Science", referring to the 20th century. Despite popular acclaim, it has been broadly criticized by scholars.C. Philipp E. Nothaft: ''Medieval Europe’s satanic ciphers: on the genesis of a modern myth.'' British Journal for the History of Mathematics 35, 2020, doi:10.1080/26375451.2020.1726050. Publications Several books devoted to numbers and history of numbers and number related topics including: * 1981: ''Histoire Universelle des Chiffres'' (Paris) ** English translation (1985): ''From one to zero. A universal history of numbers'' transl. by Lowell Bair. New York: Viking Penguin Inc. XV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
