Stone Mattress
Autor Margaret Atwooden Limba Engleză Paperback – 23 iun 2015
Descoperim în Stone Mattress o explorare a genului prozei scurte care subversează așteptările cititorului, transformând cotidianul în ceva tulburător și adesea tăios. Margaret Atwood nu se mulțumește doar să relateze fapte; ea construiește mecanisme narative în care trecutul revine cu o forță fizică, uneori sub forma unui stromatolit preistoric folosit ca armă, alteori ca o voce spectrală care ghidează o scriitoare prin viscol. Considerăm că acest volum de nouă povestiri „rele” reprezintă o rafinare a stilului său incisiv, unde bătrânețea nu este tratată cu blândețe, ci ca un teren minat de amintiri și revanșe întârziate.
Stilul are ceva din densitatea simbolică și explorarea memoriei întâlnite în The Little Black Book of Stories de A. S. Byatt, fără să fie o imitație — Atwood păstrează o distanță ironică și un pragmatism canadian care ancorează chiar și cele mai bizare elemente, precum halucinațiile vizuale sau genetica neobișnuită, într-o realitate socială acută. Apreciem modul în care autoarea navighează între realismul psihologic și fantasticul subtil, o amprentă vizibilă și în alte colecții ale sale, precum Wilderness Tips sau The Tent.
În contextul operei sale vaste, Stone Mattress se situează la intersecția dintre comentariul social acid din The Handmaid's Tale și reinterpretarea miturilor din Hag-Seed. Dacă în romanele sale de anvergură Atwood construiește lumi întregi, aici ea demonstrează o măiestrie a miniaturii, unde fiecare frază acționează ca un bisturiu. Este o lectură care nu oferă confort, ci o satisfacție intelectuală rară, provenită din observarea unei minți care refuză să ignore latura întunecată a naturii umane.
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Specificații
ISBN-10: 0804173508
Pagini: 304
Dimensiuni: 131 x 200 x 21 mm
Greutate: 0.22 kg
Editura: Random House LLC US
Colecția Anchor Books
De ce să citești această carte
Recomandăm acest volum cititorilor care caută proză scurtă de o precizie chirurgicală și un umor negru rafinat. Veți câștiga o perspectivă proaspătă, deși ușor cinică, asupra bătrâneții și a consecințelor pe termen lung ale acțiunilor noastre. Este o ocazie excelentă de a vedea cum Margaret Atwood stăpânește arta detaliului revelator, oferind povești care rămân întipărite în memorie prin ingeniozitatea lor crudă.
Despre autor
Margaret Atwood este una dintre cele mai importante voci ale literaturii contemporane, fiind o scriitoare canadiană polivalentă: poetă, romancieră, eseistă și activistă de mediu. Născută în 1939, a publicat peste 40 de volume, fiind tradusă în peste 30 de limbi. Este dublă laureată a premiului Booker (pentru The Blind Assassin și The Testaments) și a primit numeroase distincții internaționale, inclusiv premiul Franz Kafka și Arthur C. Clarke. Opera sa explorează teme precum identitatea de gen, puterea limbajului și criza climatică, fiind celebră pentru capacitatea de a anticipa derivele sociale în lucrări de ficțiune speculativă devenite clasice.
Descriere scurtă
In this extraordinary collection, Margaret Atwood gives us nine unforgettable tales that reveal the grotesque, delightfully wicked facets of humanity. Alphinland, the first of three loosely linked tales, introduces us to a fantasy writer who is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. In Lusus Naturae, a young woman, monstrously transformed by a genetic defect, is mistaken for a vampire. And in the title story, a woman who has killed four husbands discovers an opportunity to exact vengeance on the first man who ever wronged her.
By turns thrilling, funny, and thought-provoking, "Stone Mattress" affirms Atwood as our greatest creator of worlds and as an incisive chronicler of our darkest impulses."
Descriere
BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HANDMAID'S TALE, THE TESTAMENTS AND ALIAS GRACE
'Dark and witty tales from the gleefully inventive Margaret Atwood. Witty verve, imaginative inventiveness and verbal sizzle vivify every page' Sunday Times
A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. An elderly lady with Charles Bonnet syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps seeing, while a newly formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. A woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire, and a crime committed long ago is revenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion-year-old stromatolite.
'A collection of nine acerbic, mischievous, gulpable short stories' Harper's Bazaar
'Atwood's prose is so sharp and sly that the effect is bracing rather than bleak' Guardian
'[Look at these tales] as eight icily refreshing arsenic Popsicles followed by a baked Alaska laced with anthrax, all served with impeccable style and aplomb. Enjoy!' Ursula K. Le Guin, Financial Times
'Atwood has characters here close to death, dead already, unwittingly doomed or - in one memorable case - freeze-dried; but her own curiosity, enthusiasm and sheer storytelling panache remain alive and kicking' Independent
Recenzii
Atwood illuminates heavy themes with a lightness of touch, giving insight not only into the nature of stone but the trials and tribulations of flesh and blood
This collection of short stories is charged with a delightful cheekiness . Atwood has characters here close to death, dead already, unwittingly doomed or - in one memorable case - freeze-dried; but her own curiosity, enthusiasm and sheer storytelling panache remain alive and kicking. Anyone keen to consign literary fiction to an early grave will have to deal with her first
What does it mean to be a woman today? Many writers have made this fertile ground their home, but few have been able to lay such enduring claim to it as Margaret Atwood . Her latest work, Stone Mattress, a collection of nine acerbic, mischievous, gulpable short stories, addresses themes that will resonate with anyone familiar with Atwood's writing . Atwood's gimlet eye and sharp tongue are turned on the ageing process to painfully accurate effect
With death tapping at her characters' doors in more ways than one, Atwood shows herself, through these exquisitely inhabited inner lives and darkly funny stories, to be pulsing with more imaginative vivacity than ever
Here it is again, the sharp-clawed, gimlet-eyed, takes-no-prisoners Atwood whose humour is wickedly enjoyable . But there is beauty in this writing as well as harsh observational gems, and Atwood creates atmosphere with loving care, from the first sentence of the first story
Atwood's trademark dark humour and withering social commentary are pervasive throughout and the stories are so stealthily plotted that I gasped at one particular denouement despite it having been clearly signposted in the story's title . Her skill enables the reader to stomach ambiguous endings that in the hands of a less accomplished writer might feel accidental, uncrafted. "Will she or won't she (pull it off)?" wonders the narrator towards the end of one of the tales. With this collection, we are never in any doubt *****
Nine darkly funny tales had me truly engrossed . The characters are sharply observed and the plots imaginative. Atwood deploys words with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker. Pithy, powerful sentences evoke intense emotion or add more background detail than you'd think possible in so few characters. Hers is the work of a true wordsmith. Atwood's fast-paced tales had me gripped from the off . Stone Mattress is a delight to read - engaging, entertaining and wickedly witty. If you've yet to dip your toe into the world of short stories, you could do a lot worse than starting with either of these collections. Though for sheer originality, I'd recommend Stone Mattress in a heartbeat
After more than 50 books and decades in the literary limelight, Atwood can still surprise with the explosive originality of her ideas; her writing always fresh and alive . A darkly irresistible read
Nine Tales, the subtitle of this collection of short stories, references that dreaded implement of torture, the cat o' nine tails, which lacerates the skin with its cotton cords. Metaphorically, that is exactly how Stone Mattress works - each tale, told with Atwood's exquisite economy of style, cuts deep
Realism and ridiculousness, play and deadly seriousness, are held in fine balance throughout . This long view throughout the collection is entirely unsparing, both of the vanished past and the vanishing present, but Atwood's prose is so sharp and sly that the effect is bracing rather than bleak
Atwood's take on subjects such as old age, disappointment and revenge are particularly engaging. These stories are often dark, funny and deadly serious . Atwood is at her best writing about death, a subject that comes and goes throughout these stories
Typically compelling. Full to brimming with a dust-dry wit and thrilling, punchline sentences, eclectic in its plots but enriched by overarching themes . With their crackling dialogue and skilful time-tumbles, these "tales" of cruelty and regret at beautifully rendered, funny and alive, unflinching in their portrayals of the ageing process and unexpectedly poignant
Rich in sly humour and pulpy thrills