River

Author: Esther Kinsky

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $29.99 AUD
  • : 9781910695296
  • : Fitzcarraldo Editions
  • : Fitzcarraldo Editions
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  • : October 2017
  • : 195mm X 127mm
  • : United Kingdom
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Esther Kinsky
  • : Paperback
  • : 1801
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  • : 833/.92
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  • : 368
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Barcode 9781910695296
9781910695296

Description

`After many years I had excised myself from the life I had led in town, just as one might cut a figure out of a landscape or group photo. Abashed by the harm I had wreaked on the picture left behind, and unsure where the cut-out might end up next, I lived a provisional existence. I did so in a place where I knew none of my neighbours, where the street names, views, smells and faces were all unfamiliar to me, in a cheaply appointed flat where I would be able to lay my life aside.' In RIVER, a woman moves to a London suburb for reasons that are unclear. She takes long, solitary walks by the River Lea, observing and describing her surroundings and the unusual characters she encounters. Over the course of these wanderings she amasses a collection of found objects and photographs and is drawn into reminiscences of the different rivers which haunted the various stages of her life, from the Rhine, where she grew up, to the Saint Lawrence, the Hooghly, and the banks of the Oder. Written in language that is as precise as it is limpid, RIVER is a remarkable novel, full of poignant images and poetic observations, an ode to nature, edgelands, and the transience of all things human.

Awards

Short-listed for German Book Prize 2014.

Reviews

'RIVER is an unusual and stealthy sort of book, by turns grubby, theatrical, and exquisite.' -- Claire-Louise Bennett, author of POND.' Esther Kinsky's novel outlasts everything that has recently been published in the German language with patient stamina. It is full of culture without being erudite, and full of knowledge without being smart-alecky. River is a democratic book, witty, wise and touchingly beautiful.' -- Katharina Teutsch, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Author description

Esther Kinsky grew up at the River Rhine and lived in London for twelve years. She is the author of three volumes of poetry and two novels (SUMMER RESORT and BANATSKO) and has translated many notable English (Henry David Thoreau, Iain Sinclair) and Polish (Joanna Bator, Olga Tokarczuk) authors into German.