The Lost Art of Losing - Softcover

Norminton, Gregory

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908251069 ISBN 13: 9781908251060

Publisher: Vagabond Voices, 2012

Synopsis

Gregory Norminton transforms the aphorism into something more accessible and personal. Ultimately he uses aphorisms to question everything - including the aphorism itself: 'Incessantly we ask the meaning of life to protect us from hearing the perfectly obvious answer.' In The Lost Art of Losing, the author analyses the process and the hubris of literary invention, and is brutal in revealing its limitations: 'No revelation sparkles brighter than the one scribbled down from sleep, nor looks duller when revisited by the light of day. What we dream is the image of meaning. The object eludes.' These aphorisms explore the complex relationship between the self and wider society: 'To fear the ill-opinion of others is grossly to overestimate the space we take up in their imagination.' Norminton understands that an aphorism relies on the elegance of its thought: 'Some birds beat the air as if it were a foe meaning to drag them down. Others seem only to flap their wings in order to keep us from getting suspicious.'

About this title

About the Author

Gregory Norminton's first novel, the Ship of Fools, was published by Sceptre in 2002 and was followed in 2004 by Arts and Wonders and in 2005 by Ghost Portrait. That year he took part in a conservationthemed television series, Planet Action, filmed in Panama, Belize, Malaysia and Cambodia, and broadcast around the world in 2006. Norminton moved to Edinburgh in 2007, where he finished his fourth novel, Serious Things, which was published to great acclaim in 2008. Norminton has also translated Gustave Flaubert's Dictionary of Received Ideas. Gregory Norminton was born in Berkshire in 1976. He read English at Oxford University and currently lives in Manchester with his wife Emma.

Review

Norminton's aphorisms are witty, some provocative, some self-revelatory and touching to read. A companionable little volume that brings fresh life to a venerable form." - Andrew Miller author of Pure, winner of the 2012 Costa Prize Chesterton said that novels are written for the sake of ve or six words. Gregory Norminton has dispensed with the dross and given us nothing but the real thing: a whole library of " ve or six words" in their magni cent, illuminating, witty and moving essence. - Alberto Manguel Norminton describes himself as a 'novelist and seated person'. From that sedentary position, he also writes really good aphorisms... His dark insights into the human condition glitter around the edges of these aphorisms, but he clearly feels that few dismal truths are so bleak that they don't also deserve a laugh. - James Geary, author of The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism

Edition details

• Publisher: Vagabond Voices
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908251069
• ISBN 13: 9781908251060
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96