Here and Now - Hardcover

Coetzee, J.M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571305172 ISBN 13: 9780571305179

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2013

Synopsis

Although Paul Auster and J.M. Coetzee had been reading each other's books for years, the two writers did not meet until February 2008. Not long after, Auster received a letter from Coetzee, suggesting they begin exchanging letters on a regular basis and, "God willing, strike sparks off each other." Here and Now is the result of that proposal: an epistolary dialogue between two great writers who became great friends. Over three years their letters touched on nearly every subject, from sports to fatherhood, film festivals to incest, philosophy to politics, from the financial crisis to art, family, marriage, friendship, and love. Their correspondence offers an intimate and often amusing portrait of these two men as they explore the complexities of the here and now and is a reflection of two sharp intellects whose pleasure in each other's friendship is apparent on every page.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Auster is the best-selling author of Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Man in the Dark, The Brooklyn Follies, The Book of Illusions, The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Among his other honours are the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke and the Prix Medicis Etranger for Leviathan. He has also been short-listed for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions) and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (The Music of Chance). His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Review:

"[A] civilized discourse between two cultivated and sophisticated men...A pleasure to be in their company."--Michael Dirda, "The Washington Post." "These two famous writers might seem at first an unlikely pairing...[but] as a series of collaborative inquiries and an extended meditation on the processes of friendship, the book has something substantive to offer."--"The New York Times Book Review" ""Here and Now" is akin to eavesdropping on a dazzling, extended dinner conversation between two intelligent and substantive minds... A very appealing, human portrait of these two writers."--"Bookpage " "A genial, often riveting exchange. Amiable and revealing missives from two remarkable minds."--"Kirkus Reviews" "What keeps us reading is not the brilliance of the minds - though that feature is generously on offer as well - but the warmth, unpretentiousness, and honesty that emerges from these pages...An invigorating and deeply engaging look at two literary greats, as we've never seen them before."--"thestar.com" "A striking portrait of two great friends...the result of Auster and Coetzee's exchange is nothing short of witty, sharp and thought-provoking, and offers a fascinating look into the minds of two of the 20th century's greatest writers."--"Malibu Magazine"

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0571305172
• ISBN 13: 9780571305179
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256