Judith Thurman Livres

Forty essays on history, art, and literature from one of the most incisive, and most exhilarating, critical minds of the twentieth century. Guy Davenport was perhaps the last great American polymath. He provided links between art and literature, music and sculpture, modernist poets and classic philosophers, the past and present--and pretty much everything in between. Not only had Davenport seemingly read (and often translated from the original languages) everything in print, he also had the ability, expressed with unalloyed enthusiasm, to draw connections between how cultural synapses make, define, and reflect our civilization. In this collection, Guy Davenport serves as the reader's guide through history and literature, pointing out the values and avenues of thought that have shaped our ideas and our thinking. In these forty essays we find fresh thinking on Greek culture, Whitman, Spinoza, Wittgenstein, Melville, Tolkien, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, Charles Olson, Marianne Moore, Eudora Welty, Lois Zukovsky, and many others. Each essay is a tour of the history of ideas and imagination, written with wit and startling erudition.

'Everyone who cares about freedom and justice for women should read The Second Sex' Guardian Simone de Beauvoir famously wrote, 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman'. In this groundbreaking work of feminism she examines the limits of female freedom and explodes our deeply ingrained beliefs about femininity. Liberation, she argues, entails challenging traditional perceptions of the social relationship between the sexes and, crucially, in achieving economic independence. Drawing on sociology, anthropology and biology, The Second Sex is as important and relevant today as when it was first published in 1949.

A set of meditations, written over several years, concerning the painting of Balthus and "its kinship with the poetry of Rilke (Balthus's childhood mentor), with Picasso and others

This biography charts the extraordinary life of Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette, often seen as the first modern woman and lesbian icon of the 20th-century. From her arrival in Paris as a child bride, she became a best selling French novelist before launching a flamboyant stage career.

Set in 1962, the book features a unique collection of never-before-seen photographs by renowned photographer Douglas Kirkland, capturing the essence of fashion icon Coco Chanel. Through intimate moments with Chanel, her friends, and on the runway, Kirkland provides an unprecedented glimpse into the life of this legendary figure. The vibrant images not only showcase Chanel's enduring influence in fashion but also reveal her multifaceted personality, offering readers a deeper understanding of her legacy.

In a book with 175 color illustrations, the author aims to show the similarities between fashion designers Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli, including their preferences for exotic colors, interesting textiles and prints, their bold approach to style and accessories and much more.