Shirley Hazzard was an author of elegant and precise prose, whose works often explored the complexities of human relationships and the human condition. Her stylistic refinement and eye for detail dominated her novels and non-fiction alike. Though her life experiences included global travel and work with international organizations, her writing focused on profound literary exploration and incisive critique of political and social institutions. Hazzard masterfully captured the inner lives of her characters while situating them within the broader context of global events.
This collection of Shirley Hazzard's nonfiction works spanning from the 1960s to the 2000s confirms her influence on world literature and her place among writers, artists, and intellectuals who believe in the ongoing power of literature to console, inspire, and direct human life, despite--or maybe because of--the world's disheartening realities.
Reissue of this highly acclaimed Virago title, a 'finely written, beautiful and tragic novel' - Hermione Lee, FT
'Shirley Hazzard is, purely and simply, one of the greatest writers working in the English today' (Michael Cunningham). Now at last comes the first complete book of her short stories, including those previously uncollected.
Long out of print, Shirley Hazzard's classic novel of love and memory A young Englishwoman working in Naples, Jenny comes to Italy fleeing a history that threatened to undo her. Alone in the fabulously ruined city, she idly follows up a letter of introduction from an acquaintance and so changes her life forever. Through the letter, she meets Giocanda, a beautiful and gifted writer, and Gianni, a famous Roman film director and Giocanda's lover. At work she encounters Justin, a Scotsman whose inscrutability Jenny finds mysteriously attractive. As she becomes increasingly involved in the lives of these three, she discovers that the past--and the patterns of a lifetime--are not easily discarded.
Exploring themes of love and acceptance, this collection of stories delves into the complexities of human relationships, highlighting the tension between expectations and the often harsh realities of life. Each narrative captures poignant moments that reflect the struggles and triumphs of characters navigating their emotional landscapes. The author's insightful prose invites readers to reflect on their own experiences of connection and disillusionment.
From the author of the award-winning The Great Fire, an extraordinary collection of stories about life in the Organisation - a polyglot crucible in which talent rots and mediocrity thrives and the 'rights of man' are unthinkingly sacrificed on the altar of inter-departmental strife.
Born in Australia, Shirley Hazzard first moved to Naples as a young woman in the 1950s to take up a job with the United Nations. This work collects the best of Hazzard's writings on Naples. Illustrated with photographs, it is a lyrical letter to a lifelong love.
From the prizewinning author of The Great Fire comes 'an authentic work of art . . . A cause for delight and gratitude . . . Beautiful, absorbing, satisfying' Chicago Tribune
The Great Fire is Shirley Hazzard's first novel since The Transit of Venus, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1981. The conflagration of her title is the Second World War. In war-torn Asia and stricken Europe, men and women, still young but veterans of harsh experience, must reinvent their lives and expectations, and learn, from their past, to dream again. Some will fulfill their destinies, others will falter. At the centre of the story, a brave and brilliant soldier finds that survival and worldly achievement are not enough. His counterpart, a young girl living in Occupied Japan and tending her dying brother, falls in love, and in the process discovers herself. In the looming shadow of world enmities resumed, and of Asia's coming centrality in world affairs, a man and a woman seek to recover self-reliance, balance, and tenderness, struggling to reclaim their humanity.
Eine Liebeserklärung an Capri und die Geschichte einer einzigartigen Freundschaft zwischen Shirley Hazzard und Graham Greene. In den 1960er Jahren trifft Hazzard auf Greene und beschreibt ihre zwei Jahrzehnte währende, komplexe Beziehung, die eng mit dem kulturellen Leben der Insel verbunden ist.