The View from the Cheap Seats
Selected Nonfiction
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
'Gaiman is god in the universe of story' Stephen Fry
'A perfect antidote to cynicism and a paean to the power of reading' Observer
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'Literature does not occur in a vacuum. It cannot be a monologue. It has to be a conversation'
This collection will draw you in to exchanges on making good art and Syrian refugees, the power of a single word and playing the kazoo with Stephen King, writing about books, comics and the imagination of friends, being sad at the Oscars and telling lies for a living.
Here Neil Gaiman opens our minds to the people he admires and the things he believes might just mean something - and welcomes us to the conversation too.
'If this book came to you during a despairing night, by dawn, you would believe in ideas and hope and humans again' Caitlin Moran
NEIL GAIMAN.
WITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A beautiful collection of previously published essays from one of our favourite authors. Genuinely touching at times, this is a book ideal for fans hungry for a window into the English author’s own life—including his friendships with Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. We particularly discovering some of Gaiman’s influences (spoiler alert: they include Harlan Ellison, Dr Who and comic book writer Will Eisner) and the insights on his own writing process.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This collection conclusively proves that Gaiman is just as accomplished an essayist as he is an author of fiction (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) and comics (The Sandman). Echoing Rainer Maria Rilke's sentiment that "To praise is the whole thing," the collection is about building things up, not tearing them down. Gaiman's paeans to books, libraries, and bookstores, which tellingly are grouped together at the start, are heartfelt gems that capture the joy of reading. The author's eclecticism finds him writing on many disparate subjects; Gaiman is as deft analyzing Batman and G.K. Chesterton as he is describing the plight of Syrian refugees in Jordan. The most meaningful piece is titled simply "Make Good Art" the 2012 commencement address for the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. The speech is in the same category as David Foster Wallace's "This Is Water" in terms of wisdom per square inch. Gaiman's words capture the importance of making art that is sincerely one's own. With this volume, Gaiman has shown that his nonfiction rivals his much-lauded fiction.
