Lifescapes

Wroe, Ann

£18.99

‘What is life?’ asked the poet Shelley, and could not come up with an answer. Scientists, too, have not solved the puzzle. Yet biographers and obituarists continue to corral lives in a few columns, or a few hundred pages, aware all the time how fleeting and elusive their subject is. In ‘Lifescapes’, acclaimed biographer and obituarist Ann Wroe reflects on a career spent pursuing life: a process, as she sees it, not of chronological narration but of trying to seize souls.

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Publish Date: 31/08/2023
ISBN: 9781787334458 Category: Tags: ,

Description

The acclaimed biographer and obituarist for The Economist reflects on a career spent pursuing life and capturing it on the page.

It is soul that I go looking for. Or, to put it another way, real life.

She’s a genius, I believe’ HILARY MANTEL
‘A masterful celebration’ JOHN BANVILLE
‘A rare and beautiful book’ KAPKA KASSABOVA

‘What is life?’ asked the poet Shelley, and could not come up with an answer. Scientists, too, for all their understanding of how life manifests, thrives and evolves, have still not plumbed that fundamental question. Yet biographers and obituarists continue to corral lives in a few columns, or a few hundred pages, aware all the time how fleeting and elusive their subject is.

In this dazzlingly original blend of memoir, biography, observation and poetry, Ann Wroe reflects on the art and impossibility of capturing life on the page. Through her experiences and those of others, through people she has known, studied or merely glimpsed in windows, she movingly explores what makes a life and how that life lingers after.

Animated by Wroe’s rare imagination, eye for the telling detail, and the wit, beauty and clarity of her writing, Lifescapes is a luminous, deeply personal answer to Shelley’s question.

Additional information

Weight 346 g
Dimensions 222 × 144 × 24 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

208

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

809.93592 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K