Лучшие книги Элисон Лури

Профессору английской литературы Винни Майнер пятьдесят четыре, она не очень красива и давно поставила крест на своей личной жизни. Побывав замужем, Винни раз и навсегда отказалась от идеи брака. Изредка в ее постели появляются партнеры, но не более того. Она довольна своей жизнью, работой и собой. Но все меняется, когда Винни в очередной раз отправляется в Англию. И взбаламутил ее жизнь неотесанный мужлан Чак из американского захолустья... Фред Тернер, молодой коллега Винни, неприлично красив и терпеть не может Англию. В этой стране его раздражает буквально все: еда, погода, аборигены. Его лондонская жизнь - сплошная тоска, пока в нее…

Полли Альтер числит себя феминисткой. Не самой активной, но доверять мужчинам она отказывается наотрез. Особенно после развода, когда ее враждебность к ним подогревает лучшая подруга Джин, по мнению которой мужчины ничем не лучше грязи под ногтями. То ли дело крепкая женская дружба и, конечно, работа. Полли пишет биографию выдающейся художницы Лорин Джонс, которая умерла, так и не получив при жизни достойного признания. Поли твердо решила доказать, что Лорин Джонс стала жертвой мужских амбиций, эгоизма и мужского шовинизма. Если бы не мужчины, Лорин Джонс была бы сейчас не только знаменита, но и жива. Но все оказывается далеко не так…

Book Description "One can read Lurie as one might read Jane Austen, with continual delight," Joyce Carol Oates has said about novelist Alison Lurie. And author John Fowles has remarked, "There is no American writer I have read with more consistent pleasure and sympathy over the years." Now, with her fine new novel, Lurie returns to the setting that have delighted her fans throughout her long career— the university campus. An energetic and attractive forty, Jane Mackenzie is the administrativedirector at Corinth University’s Center for the Humanities. Unfortunately, her formerly healthy and athletic husband Alan, a history fellow at the center, has suffered a debilitating back injury and is becoming more and more dependent on Jane. But with the arrival of Delia Delaney, a pre-Raphaelite beauty, bestselling writer, and the newest celebrity at the center, Alan gradually begins to recover, becoming well enough for a not-so-harmless liaison. Meanwhile, Jane, who all her life has triedto be a good woman, finds herself falling in love with Delia’s husband. A modern social satire that recalls the best of David Lodge and Mary McCarthy, Truth and Consequences is one of Lurie’s finest works, echoing her popular university novels Foreign Affairs and The War Between the Tates.

"Winnie l'Ourson" n'est pas un ouvrage habituellement considéré comme subversif, pas plus que "Les Aventures de Tom Sawyer", "Alice au pays des merveilles" ou "Peter Pan". Néanmoins, si de tels classiques apparemment anodins connaissent un succès durable, c'est en partie parce qu'ils font la satire de la société adulte et de ses conventions. Si les enfants forment une tribu à part, possédant une culture propre, ces ouvrages en sont les textes sacrés. Avec les contes de fées, les comptines et les histoires drôles, ils constituent la littérature clandestine de l'enfance. Alison Lurie est professeur de littérature à Cornell University. "Liaisons étrangères" a reçu le prix Pulitzer en 1985, "La Vérité sur Lorin Jones" le prix Femina étranger en 1989."

Jenny has devoted her life to her husband, the naturalist Wilkie Walker. She is as rare a creature as the endangered species he works to preserve. But this year, as winter comes on, Wilkie seems distant and depressed. In desperation Jenny persuades him to visit Key West, but the sun and tropical scenery do nothing to cheer him up. As he grows even stranger, Jenny becomes involved with some exotic local characters - including Gerry, an ex-beatnik poet, and Lee, the dramatically attractive manager of a women-only guest house.

Ce livre, un des plus célèbres d'Alison Lurie, publié en 1975, est un roman qui satirise toute l'Amérique des années soixante et soixante-dix, pendant la guerre du Viêt-nam. On retrouve certains personnages de ses premiers romans et le cadre de la ville universitaire de Corinth, lieu de querelles sanglantes et comiques au sein d'une même famille : les Tate. Des conflits de générations séparent, au-delà de la seule incompréhension, les enfants des parents. Brian Tate, un sévère intellectuel, ne comprend pas le comportement de ses enfants Matilda et Jeffrey. Sa femme, Erica, quant à elle, s'interroge sur sa relation avec Brian, qu'elle soupçonne (avec raison) d'avoir une liaison avec une de ses étudiantes. Les découvertes combinées de l'adultère et des joies du sexe, d'une part, des exigences d'inddépendance confrontées avec la vie de famille d'autre part, font de cette peinture-satire une drôlissime comédie.

Jenny has devoted her life to her husband, the famous naturalist Wilkie Walker. But this year, as winter comes on, Wilkie seems distant and depressed. In desperation Jenny persuades him to visit Key West, but the sun and tropical scenery do nothing to cheer him up. As he grows even stranger, Jenny becomes involved with some intriguing local characters including Gerry, an ex-beatnik poet, and Lee, the dramatically attractive manager of a women-only guest house.
Wife, secretary, confidante, housekeeper - might Jenny at last break free from her role as Wilkie's support act?

'A brilliant and seemingly effortless accomplishment...steady uninterrupted delight' Sunday Telegraph
Faculty wife Emily Stockwell Turner is beautiful, rich, and principled. However, five years in a marriage devoid of passion is enough to propel Emmy, despite her principles, into an affair with a silver-tongued self-confessed libertine. Her husband, a dull, hard-working lecturer, suspecting everyone but the right man, sends himself half mad with jealousy. The shocking, unforeseen consequences of their affair shatter Emmy's most cherished delusions about friendship, romance, and the ties that bind.

'Marvellous entertainment' Sunday Times
Just married and newly arrived in Los Angeles are Paul and Katherine Cattleman. Paul responds immediately to the sunny, sprawling cosmopolitan city but to Katherine the main impression is of dirt and smog. Paul explores his surroundings and discovers Ceci, a girl who could be the incarnation of the city's uninhibited ways, while Katherine meets Iz a psychiatrist who recognises her unhappiness and sets out to help her. Under the bright west coast sun, the city begins to affect the couple in separate, subtle but significant ways, shining new light on their marriage with moving, funny and unexpected consequences.

'Delightful... Her characters are, as always, wonderfully imperfect' New York Review of Books
Alan has changed because he's injured his back. Pain has altered his appearance and made him glum, demanding and resentful. His wife Jane has to do everything for him - fetching, carrying, shopping, cooking, even dressing and undressing him. Sometimes she longs for escape.
Delia is a writer and researcher specialising in fairy tales - she is, in her own estimation, a 'Great Artist'. Her husband, Henry, manages her every need making certain Delia gets everything she desires including spectacular doses of adulation.
Can Delia coax Alan out of his grumpiness? Can Henry stop Jane feeling guilty? Can the two couples break out of their fixed roles?

It often seems that the most gifted authors of books for children are not like other writers: instead, in some essential way, they are children themselves. E. Nesbit devoted weeks to building a toy town out of kitchenware. James Barrie spent his holidays playing pirates and Indians with the four Davies boys. Laurent deBrunhoff, who continued his father's Babar series, is still climbing trees at the age of 70. Beatrix Potter preferred the company of animals and pets to that of eligible young dancing partners at balls. In these fascinating studies, Alison Lurie's subjects range from what fairy tales teach us, to children's games and poetry by and for children, from book illustrators to enchanted forests and secret gardens in children's literature.

The Subversive Power of Children's Literature
In "Don't Tell the Grown-Ups," one of our wittiest and most astute cultural commentators explores the world of children's literature -- from Lewis Carroll to Dr. Seuss, from classic fairy tales to A.A. Milne, from Beatrix Potter to J.R.R. Tolkien -- and shows that many of the most enduring books for children share a surprising quality: they challenge rather than uphold respectable adult values.