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Defalcare. Aproape nicio amintire. Integrala prozei scurte – volumul 1

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Acest volum reuneste primele doua volume dintre cele patru care compun integrala de proza scurta a scriitoarei americane Lydia Davis: Defalcare (Break It Down) si Aproape nicio amintire - Almost No Memory

Indrazneata, tulburator de inteligenta si adesea extrem de comica, lumea pe care Lydia Davis o creeaza in volumele de proza scurta ne aminteste, intr-o lume in care cuvintele se destrabaleaza, ce inseamna cu adevarat termeni precum economie, precizie si originalitate. Este o scriitoare la fel de mare ca Franz Kafka, la fel de subtila ca Gustave Flaubert si la fel de esentiala ca Proust.

Volumul Defalcare (Break It Down), publicat in 1986, a fost nominalizat pentru PEN/ Hemingway Award.

Lydia Davis, scriitoare si traducatoare americana nascuta in 1947, recunoscuta pentru povestile extrem de scurte, stralucite si inventive. In toamna anului 2003 a primit unul dintre cele 25 de premii MacArthur Foundation pentru modul in care demonstreaza ca „limbajul in sine poate distra“, pentru felul in care „spune totul printr-un singur cuvant“ si pentru incredibilul stil care „poate mentine interesul cititorului prin fraze nespuse“. Davis ofera cititorilor un fragment de detalii invizibile anterior vietii, dezvaluind noi surse de perspective filosofice si frumusete. In 2013 a primit premiul Man Booker International.

„Davis este o inalta preoteasa a uimitorului, a detaliului. Poate sa faca cele mai banale lucruri - un cuplu care sta de vorba sau cineva care se uita la televizor - bizare, aproape mitice. Am simtit ca am intalnit una dintre cele mai originale si indraznete minti.“ - Colm Toibin, The Telegraph

268 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2016

49 people want to read

About the author

Lydia Davis

352 books1,466 followers
Lydia Davis, acclaimed fiction writer and translator, is famous in literary circles for her extremely brief and brilliantly inventive short stories. In fall 2003 she received one of 25 MacArthur Foundation “Genius” awards. In granting the award the MacArthur Foundation praised Davis’s work for showing “how language itself can entertain, how all that what one word says, and leaves unsaid, can hold a reader’s interest. . . . Davis grants readers a glimpse of life’s previously invisible details, revealing new sources of philosophical insights and beauty.” In 2013 She was the winner of the Man Booker International prize.

Davis’s recent collection, “Varieties of Disturbance” (May 2007), was featured on the front cover of the “Los Angeles Times Book Review” and garnered a starred review from “Publishers Weekly.” Her “Samuel Johnson Is Indignant” (2001) was praised by “Elle” magazine for its “Highly intelligent, wildly entertaining stories, bound by visionary, philosophical, comic prose—part Gertrude Stein, part Simone Weil, and pure Lydia Davis.”

Davis is also a celebrated translator of French literature into English. The French government named her a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her fiction and her distinguished translations of works by Maurice Blanchot, Pierre Jean Jouve, Michel Butor and others.

Davis recently published a new translation (the first in more than 80 years) of Marcel Proust’s masterpiece, “Swann’s Way” (2003), the first volume of Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.” A story of childhood and sexual jealousy set in fin de siecle France, “Swann’s Way” is widely regarded as one of the most important literary works of the 20th century.

The “Sunday Telegraph” (London) called the new translation “A triumph [that] will bring this inexhaustible artwork to new audiences throughout the English-speaking world.” Writing for the “Irish Times,” Frank Wynne said, “What soars in this new version is the simplicity of language and fidelity to the cambers of Proust’s prose… Davis’ translation is magnificent, precise.”

Davis’s previous works include “Almost No Memory” (stories, 1997), “The End of the Story” (novel, 1995), “Break It Down” (stories, 1986), “Story and Other Stories” (1983), and “The Thirteenth Woman” (stories, 1976).

Grace Paley wrote of “Almost No Memory” that Lydia Davis is the kind of writer who “makes you say, ‘Oh, at last!’—brains, language, energy, a playfulness with form, and what appears to be a generous nature.” The collection was chosen as one of the “25 Favorite Books of 1997” by the “Voice Literary Supplement” and one of the “100 Best Books of 1997” by the “Los Angeles Times.”

Davis first received serious critical attention for her collection of stories, “Break It Down,” which was selected as a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. The book’s positive critical reception helped Davis win a prestigious Whiting Writer’s Award in 1988.

She is the daughter of Robert Gorham Davis and Hope Hale Davis. From 1974 to 1978 Davis was married to Paul Auster, with whom she has a son, Daniel Auster. Davis is currently married to painter Alan Cote, with whom she has a son, Theo Cote. She is a professor of creative writing at University at Albany, SUNY.
Davis is considered hugely influential by a generation of writers including Jonathan Franzen, David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers, who once wrote that she "blows the roof off of so many of our assumptions about what constitutes short fiction."

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Gabriela Pistol.
643 reviews247 followers
October 20, 2024
Cred că e mai corect să spun că admir inteligența observațiilor Lydiei (aș putea spune chiar "despicat firul în patru" în loc de "observații") și dragostea ei evidentă pentru limbaj decât că m-am bucurat de lectură.
Textele ei sunt instantanee, fotografii povestite, sună nu a povestiri, ci mult mai mult a fragmente de jurnal.
Profile Image for Andrei Cioată.
Author 4 books426 followers
April 24, 2018
Lydia Davis, printre puținii autori care îmi răscolesc sufletul cu un așa talent!
Profile Image for Bogdan.
739 reviews48 followers
August 4, 2019
Haiku in short stories.
Witty, cynical and masterfully written.
Profile Image for Gritcan Elena.
896 reviews27 followers
March 24, 2025
Are potențial, unele istorioare is de-a dreptul delicioase, dar majoritatea parcă sunt incomplete, nu au un final în cazul în care se cere mai mult , și așa mi s-a părut 70% din carte

Majoritatea textelor scurte (de până la o pagină) parcă sunt niște frământări de limbă

Multă vreme nu au fost siguri dacă mai era în casă. De fapt, nu aveau cum să-și dea seama. Dar în primele zile de primăvară au făcut curățenie în cameră de oaspeți u de, ce-i drept , dormise, și unde el nu mai era acum decât un fel de abur. L-au scuturat de pe saltea, l-au măturat de pe podea, l-au șters de pe geam, și n-au știut niciodată ce au făcut .


O izbucnire de furie la marginea drumului, un refuz de a vorbi pe potecă, o tăcere în pădurea de pini, o tăcere pe vechiul pod peste calea ferată, o încercare de a fi prietenos în apă, un refuz de a pune capăt certei pe pietrele plate, un strigăt de manie pe malul abrupt și noroios, un plâns în tufișuri
Profile Image for Razvan Zamfirescu.
534 reviews82 followers
July 26, 2016
Profile Image for Cristina Maria.
2 reviews5 followers
January 18, 2021
"Inconsecvența lui. Incapacitatea lui de a termina ceva. Sentimentul brusc că nimic din ceea ce făcea el nu conta. Revelațiile că ceea ce se petrecea în lumea exterioară avea mai multă consistență decât orice din viața lui."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Alexandra Mânzat.
5 reviews2 followers
May 2, 2023
M-a impresionat felul ei de a descrie. Ea este o adevărată maestră a detaliilor, transformând obiectele banale în ceva extraordinar. Cu fiecare povestire a ei mi-am dat seama cât de neglijenți suntem noi când vine vorba de anumite aspecte cum ar fi viața unei menajere, o despărțire sau chiar și iubirea.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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