Apology For The Woman Writing - Hardcover

Diski, Jenny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844083853 ISBN 13: 9781844083855

Publisher: Virago, 2008

Synopsis

Marie de Gournay was eighteen when she read, and was overwhelmed by, the essays of the French philosopher Montaigne. She had to be revived with hellebore. When she finally met Montaigne, she stabbed herself with a hairpin until the blood ran in order to show her devotion. He made her his adopted daughter for the two months they knew each other. He died four years later, after which, though scorned by intellectuals, she became his editor. Jenny Diski engages with this passionate and confused relationship between 'father and daughter', old writer/young acolyte, possible lovers, using both their voices. Much of their story is about absence of the people they love. In Jenny Diski's hands it becomes a fascinating tale.

About this title

Review:

'Diski's understated method and her decision to observe rather than judge give the surface of this novel an even-handed authority . . . Diski's compelling, beautifully crisp fictional reconstruction of this bizarre and uncompromising woman's life serves as a warning'

Book Description:

* From the award-winning author of STRANGER ON A TRAIN and SKATING TO ANTARTICA, a extraordinary novel based on a real story

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1844083853
• ISBN 13: 9781844083855
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288