Kirjahaku

An esteemed literary critic shares his final musings on books, his children, and his own impending death In 2010, Clive James was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. Deciding that "if you don't know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do," James moved his library to his house in Cambridge, where he would "live, read, and perhaps even write." James is the award-winning author of dozens of works of literary criticism, poetry, and history, and this volume contains his reflections on what may well be his last reading list. A look at some of James's old favorites as well as some of his recent discoveries, this book also offers a revealing look at the author himself, sharing his evocative musings on literature and family, and on living and dying. As thoughtful and erudite as the works of Alberto Manguel, and as moving and inspiring as Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture and Will Schwalbe's The End of Your Life Book Club, this valediction to James's lifelong engagement with the written word is a captivating valentine from one of the great literary minds of our time.

A world-renowned media and cultural critic offers an insightful analysis of serial TV drama and the modern art of the small screen Television and TV viewing are not what they once were—and that’s a good thing, according to award-winning author and critic Clive James. Since serving as television columnist for the London Observer from 1972 to 1982, James has witnessed a radical change in content, format, and programming, and in the very manner in which TV is watched. Here he examines this unique cultural revolution, providing a brilliant, eminently entertaining analysis of many of the medium’s most notable twenty-first-century accomplishments and their not always subtle impact on modern society—including such acclaimed serial dramas as Breaking Bad, The West Wing, Mad Men, and The Sopranos, as well as the comedy 30 Rock. With intelligence and wit, James explores a television landscape expanded by cable and broadband and profoundly altered by the advent of Netflix, Amazon, and other “cord-cutting” platforms that have helped to usher in a golden age of unabashed binge-watching.

The second instalment of his famed unreliable memoirs, Falling Towards England sees Clive James set sail for London – a long way from the acclaimed author, poet and broadcaster he would one day become . . .'A comic triumph' – Ian Hamilton, London Review of BooksWaving goodbye to Sydney, Clive James arrives in 1960s England with nothing much besides the clothes on his back, in search of fame and fortune. Idealistic and uncompromising, if short on cash, he plans to get a low-paying menial job by day and compose poetical masterpieces by night. London is beginning to swing, but our hero is flat broke. The menial job proves elusive, with steady employment as hard to find as a room of his own.In a succession of more or less unsatisfactory digs, which include a bedsit, a barge, and a large paper bag, he attempts to stay warm, knuckle down, practise the Twist, plan those poetical masterpieces and improve his unsatisfactory wardrobe. Reflecting on these years, Clive is at his erudite and hilarious best.Falling Towards England is the second book of memoir from Clive James. Continue his story with May Week Was In June.

It is the middle of the Swinging Sixties, and Clive James doesn't have much to show for it. May Week Was In June is the third hilarious, tender instalment of memoir from the iconic author, poet and broadcaster.'Nobody writes like Clive James' – SpectatorArriving at Cambridge University in a cold October in 1964, the young Clive James has yet to find a footing in the literary world. His move from Sydney and three years of hand-to-mouth existence in London has produced nothing but a handful of unpublished poems. Pembroke College Cambridge offers a way out, if not up . . .Ignoring the curriculum, he throws himself into writing songs, performing and film reviewing. “If something was irrelevant, I could do it.” He takes Footlights to the Edinburgh Fringe, writes for the New Stateman and works on Expresso Drongo, arguably the worst film ever screened at the NFT . He finds a lifelong passion in criticism, continues his poetry, falls in love with Italian art and eventually, in May Week, he marries. These are the years that formed the man Clive James – told with his trademark erudition and humour.May Week Was In June is the third book of memoir from Clive James. Continue his story with North Face of Soho.

Always Unreliable is the collected first three volumes of Clive James's eloquently witty autobiographies, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England and May Week Was in June.In Unreliable Memoirs we meet the young Clive James – dressed in shorts and growing up in post-war Sydney. With Falling Towards England, we find Clive living in a Swiss Cottage B&B, where he practises the Twist, anticipates poetical masterpieces he’s yet to compose, and worries about his wardrobe. Finally, May Week Was In June sees Clive at Cambridge University, where he enthusiastically involves himself in college life (generally female lives) until May Week – not only in June but also a fortnight long – when he gets married.The rest, of course, is history . . .

In the 1980s, Clive James found his way into full-time television. In The Blaze of Obscurity, his fifth book of memoir, he delivers the inside story. A hilarious, thoughtful, warts and all account of a life in the public eye.'Clive James is an intellectual as well as a joker, a wise man as well as a wit' – ObserverAs his fame grew, Clive James was never alone – except in the toilet. But there, cubicle walls provided little protection against young men, standing at urinals, talking behind his back:Jesus, he's looking rough.And it's only Monday.Taking it in his stride and batting away accusations of selling out, Clive James was in television for the adventure. And an adventure it was. Rollicking through the end of one century and the beginning of the next, he interviews Hefner and Hepburn, Frank Sinatra and Françoise Sagan, Peter Ustinov ('even his nose could act') and Ronald Reagan. He explores the Las Vegas Grand Prix and the Louisville Kentucky Holiday Inn talent pageant, sends Postcards from Kenya, Shanghai, Tokyo and Dallas, interprets the news, discovers the first bizarre examples of what has come to be known as reality TV, and promotes the career of the irrepressible Margarita Pracatan – all told here with his trademark humour and thoughtful erudition.The Blaze of Obscurity is the fifth and final book of memoir from Clive James.Praise for Clive James:'It is one of the most tender, frank and, above all, funny accounts of growing up I have ever read' –Michael Parkinson'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert

The Revolt of the Pendulum is an essay collection that shows Clive James at his most dazzling and versatile best. From the rules of grammar to the fundamentals of religion, from the culture of fandom to the cult of the critic, it’s all there: his customary wit, learning and understanding; his precise way with words and pointed comments; his ear for language and eye for detail; his ability to focus on the finer points and the bigger picture simultaneously – not to mention the sheer scope of his subject matter. ‘Clive James has a fantastic range and depth of knowledge. He is, at times, miraculously funny. He writes knowledgeably and with passion about literature, and especially poetry. His opinions are his own; he knows about classical music, show tunes and pop. He knows about politics and history. He understands people too. And he makes good jokes . . . There’s only one Clive James’ – Sam Leith, Spectator.Discover more of Clive's essays in Reliable Essays and The Meaning of Recognition.

From Fleet Street to the television, North Face of Soho is the fascinating and hilarious fourth volume of memoir from much-loved author, poet and broadcaster Clive James.'[James] delivers his gags with honed elegance' – Sunday TimesIt is 1968. Newly married, dressed in the style of the times ('a frenzy of bad judgement'), Clive James is leaving the cloistered world of Cambridge academia and setting his sights once again on the lights of literary London.Luckily for him and us, this crack at the big city would go rather better than last time.Still writing songs, directing sketch shows and trying to break into the movie business, with very mixed success, Clive eventually lands a weekly TV column at the Observer, finds his metier and rapidly becomes a household name. Credited with inventing a genre, Clive turns his attention to the previously critically disregarded medium of television to comment on the entire culture. Through the Seventies and early Eighties, from Fleet Street to Hollywood, from Russian department stores to Paris fashion shows, this is the hilarious, entertaining and honest story of a life lived to the full.North Face of Soho is the fourth book of memoir from Clive James. Continue his story with The Blaze of Obscurity.

From the fierce and funny Clive James, this is Britain in the twenty-first century – from wheelie bins to plastic surgery, and from Britain's Got Talent to contemporary art.Between 2007 and 2009, Clive James wrote and presented A Point of View for BBC Radio 4, providing hilarious and profound thoughts on the matters of the moment. In this volume are presented his original pieces – sixty in total – alongside previously unpublished postscripts.Read along with Clive as he delves deep into television, Elizabeth Hurley, Harry Potter, the Olympic Games, Snoop Dogg and cane toads – and plenty more besides.'Irreverent and funny, clever without being cynical and not afraid to flex his wits on anything and everything' – Daily TelegraphClive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His much-loved, influential and hilarious television criticism is available both in individual volumes and collected in Clive James On Television. His encyclopaedic study of culture and politics in the twentieth century, Cultural Amnesia, remains perhaps the definitive embodiment of his wide-ranging talents as a critic. Praise for Clive James:'The perfect critic' – A.O. Scott, New York Times'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker 'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert

Finally in paperback after six hardcover printings, this international bestseller is an encyclopedic A-Z masterpiece the perfect introduction to the very core of Western humanism. Clive James rescues, or occasionally destroys, the careers of many of the greatest thinkers, humanists, musicians, artists, and philosophers of the twentieth century. Soaring to Montaigne-like heights, Cultural Amnesia is precisely the book to burnish these memories of a Western civilization that James fears is nearly lost."

Before James Frey famously fabricated his memoir, Clive James wrote a refreshingly candid book that made no claims to be accurate, precise, or entirely truthful, only to entertain. In an exercise of literary exorcism, James set out to put his childhood in Australia behind him by rendering it as part novel, part memoir. Now, nearly thirty years after it first came out in England, Unreliable Memoirs is again available to American readers and sure to attract a whole new generation that has, through his essays and poetry, come to love James s inimitable voice."

A generous helping of [James s] very best, guaranteed to lift the spirit and raise the eyebrow. Billy Collins

Collecting verse written in the years 2008–2011, Nefertiti in the Flak Tower sees Clive James approach his later years with the same technical versatility, emotional poignancy and lightly-worn erudition as defined his career.Across a breathtaking range of themes, there are moving elegies, a meditation on the later W.B. Yeats, a Hollywood Iliad, odes to rare orchids, wartime typewriters and sharks – as well as a poem on the fate of Queen Nefertiti in Nazi Germany.What marks this collection out is his intensified concentration on the individual poem as self-contained universe. Poetry is a practice he compares (in 'Numismatics') to striking new coin; in Nefertiti in the Flak Tower each poem is a twin-sided balance of the unashamedly joyous and the deadly serious, 'whose play of light pays tribute to the dark'.Clive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His acclaimed poetry includes the collection Sentenced to Life and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, both Sunday Times bestsellers. His passion for and knowledge of poetry are distilled in his book of criticism on the subject, Poetry Notebook, and, written in the last year of his life, his personal annotated anthology of favourite poems, The Fire Of Joy. Praise for Clive James:'He will be seen, I think, as one of the most important and influential writers of our time' – Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times'Wise, witty, terrifying, unflinching and extraordinarily alive' – A.S. Byatt, critic and author of Possession: A Romance'Clive James is a true poet' – Peter Porter, London Review of Books

Hilarious and trenchant, Reliable Essays collects the most memorable works of criticism and travel writing from well-loved author and broadcaster, Clive James. With an introduction by Julian Barnes.'[An] intellectual as well as a joker, a wise man as well as a wit' – ObserverWhether discussing arts, politics or culture, Clive James opens up new avenues for thought whilst never being less than wonderfully entertaining. From his 'Postcard from Rome' to his observations on Margaret Thatcher, and his insights into Heaney, Larkin and Orwell, Clive is equally at home discussing the nature of celebrity and considering serious political matters.With brilliantly funny examinations of characters like Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer and Marilyn Monroe, this is a thoughtful, analytical and thoroughly enjoyable selection of Clive at his best.'[I]immensely enjoyable' – TelegraphClive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His much-loved, influential and hilarious television criticism is collected in Clive James On Television. His encyclopaedic study of culture and politics in the twentieth century, Cultural Amnesia, remains perhaps the definitive embodiment of his wide-ranging talents as a critic.Praise for Clive James:'The perfect critic' – A.O. Scott, New York Times'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker 'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert

Taking the very best, funniest and most heartfelt of his work from 1958–2003, The Book of My Enemy is the second volume of collected poems from much-loved poet, broadcaster and author of Unreliable Memoirs, Clive James. 'He rejoices in language, and he shows enormous skill in using it' – Sunday TelegraphThe poetry of Clive James achieved immediate notoriety on the publication of this volume's title poem: 'The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered'. Hilarious and self-satirizing, it became one of the most anthologized poems of recent times.After its publication, James emerged unarguably as one of the most prominent poets of his generation – and The Book of My Enemy shows why. With its broad thematic scope and dazzling technical accomplishment, this collection is one to treasure.'If you are vacillating over whether a couple of bottles of pinot blanc might, in the short run, prove more fun than a poetry book, then just flick to the first page and the title poem of this volume' – The TimesThe Book of My Enemy features a selection of poetry written by James from 1958–2003, and includes within it his previous collection Other Passports.Clive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His acclaimed poetry includes the collection Sentenced to Life and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, both Sunday Times bestsellers. His passion for and knowledge of poetry are distilled in his book of criticism on the subject, Poetry Notebook, and, written in the last year of his life, his personal annotated anthology of favourite poems, The Fire Of Joy.Praise for Clive James:'He will be seen, I think, as one of the most important and influential writers of our time' – Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times'Wise, witty, terrifying, unflinching and extraordinarily alive' – A.S. Byatt, critic and author of Possession: A Romance'Clive James is a true poet' – Peter Porter, London Review of Books

With essays taking the reader from London to Bali, theatre to library and from election campaigns to television, The Meaning of Recognition collects the best of Clive James on art, culture and politics from 2001–2005.Whether analysing Bing Crosby, Bruno Schulz or Shakespeare, celebrating The Sopranos and The West Wing, or lamenting the decline of Formula One, Clive James writes with style and substance, offering food for thought across a huge variety of subjects. On Pushkin, Philip Roth, or the nature of celebrity, he is always sane, engaged and unmistakably himself. This collection shows Clive at his witty, learned and heartfelt best.‘Clive James, the most glorious prose stylist of his generation, refuses to stop learning ever more about the world’ — New Statesman'[Clive] can both get to the heart of a subject and raise a laugh' – Sunday TimesClive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His much-loved, influential and hilarious television criticism is available both in individual volumes and collected in Clive James On Television. His encyclopaedic study of culture and politics in the twentieth century, Cultural Amnesia, remains perhaps the definitive embodiment of his wide-ranging talents as a critic. Praise for Clive James:'The perfect critic' – A.O. Scott, New York Times'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker 'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert

His second book of cultural criticism, At the Pillars of Hercules sees Clive James take on artists from W. H. Auden to Lillian Hellman, and from T. S. Eliot to Norman Mailer, in a collection that confirmed his reputation as a writer of entertaining, insightful essays.Named for a now much-missed Soho pub that was long the regular haunt of literary Londoners, this collection sees James discuss contemporary poetry, aesthetics and the theory and practice of criticism, the popular novel, and the literature of modern history and politics. It is a fascinating time capsule of the literary 1970s, as well as an illuminating and wide-ranging work of cultural criticism.Clive James's inimitable wit and candour are ever present in this collection, featuring a previously unpublished introduction.Clive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His much-loved, influential and hilarious television criticism is available both in individual volumes and collected in Clive James On Television. His encyclopaedic study of culture and politics in the twentieth century, Cultural Amnesia, remains perhaps the definitive embodiment of his wide-ranging talents as a critic. Praise for Clive James: 'The perfect critic' – A.O. Scott, New York Times'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker 'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert

Effervescent, energetic and eclectic, Even As We Speak collects the best of Clive James on art, culture and politics from 1993–2001. This is one of the late twentieth century's finest minds on show. From the Olympics to the British monarchy to Australian culture, and from icons of the century to the role of the ordinary German in the holocaust, this is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking selection of Clive at his best. This collection includes his compelling, much-discussed piece written shortly after the death of someone he knew personally – Diana, Princess of Wales.Whether the reader is discovering him for the first time, or revisiting classic pieces, Even As We Speak is a compelling collection from a much-loved figure in British – and Australian – culture.Clive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His much-loved, influential and hilarious television criticism is available both in individual volumes and collected in Clive James On Television. His encyclopaedic study of culture and politics in the twentieth century, Cultural Amnesia, remains perhaps the definitive embodiment of his wide-ranging talents as a critic. Praise for Clive James:'The perfect critic' – A.O. Scott, New York Times'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker 'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert

From the author of Cultural Amnesia, beloved writer, poet and broadcaster Clive James, The Remake is a satirical story of astronomy, celebrity and a certain sort of romance . . .'As sharp as a tack and as clever as eleven wagonloads of monkeys' – GuardianAstronomer Joel Court has problems. His interstellar discoveries might have landed him a weekly spot on the television, but before long his misbehaviour has lost him his wife, his mistress and quite possibly his career. He lands in the home of Chance Jenolan, to whom success was a way of life, who deals in a very different sort of star. One of Chance's orbiting celebrities poses a particular problem for Joel. The Mole. Her heavenly body outshines all the celestial manifestations Joel has ever seen. Pretty soon, he will not be able to bear having her out of his sights.