Deirdre Bair

National Book Award-winning biographer Deirdre Bair explores her fifteen remarkable years in Paris with Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, painting intimate new portraits of two literary giants and revealing secrets of the biographical art. In 1971 Deirdre Bair was a journalist and recently minted Ph.D. who managed to secure access to Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett. He agreed that she could write his biography despite never having written--or even read--a biography herself. The next seven years of intimate conversations, intercontinental research, and peculiar cat-and-mouse games resulted in Samuel Beckett: A Biography, which went on to win the National Book Award and propel Deirdre to her next subject: Simone de Beauvoir. The catch? De Beauvoir and Beckett despised each other--and lived essentially on the same street. While quite literally dodging one subject or the other, and sometimes hiding out in the backrooms of the great cafés of Paris, Bair learned that what works in terms of process for one biography rarely applies to the next. Her seven-year relationship with the domineering and difficult de Beauvoir required a radical change in approach, yielding another groundbreaking literary profile. Drawing on Bair's extensive notes from the period, including never-before-told anecdotes and details that were considered impossible to publish at the time, Parisian Lives is full of personality and warmth and give us an entirely new window on the all-too-human side of these legendary thinkers.

Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me--A Memoir

Parisian Lives

Chronicles the life of the French writer, examining her roles as author, philosopher, feminist, and companion to Jean-Paul Sartre

A Biography

Simone de Beauvoir

The first biography of the famous diarist written with exclusive access to her complete, original diary and with the full cooperation of her family traces her infamous erotic exploits among the intellectual elite. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. Tour.

Anaïs Nin

"Born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, to poor, Italian immigrant parents, Al Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. In 1925, during the height of Prohibition, Capone's multi-million dollar Chicago bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling operation dominated the organized crime scene. His competition with rival gangs was brutally violent, a long-running war that crested with the shocking St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929. Through it all, and despite the best efforts of law enforcement and the media elite, Capone remained above the fray; federal income-tax evasion was the strongest charge that could be made to stick, and in 1931, he was sentenced to eleven years in Federal prison. After serving six-and-a-half years, mostly in Alcatraz, a severely impaired Capone, badly damaged by neurosyphillis, was released to live out his final years with his family in Miami. From his heyday to our present moment, Al Capone's life has gripped the public imagination, and his gangster persona has been immortalized in the countless movies and books inspired by his exploits. But who was the man behind the legend? While some remember him as fundamentally kind and good, others speak of how frightening he was, a vicious, cold-blooded killer. Was Al really such a quotable wit? Did he really shower the poor with hundred-dollar bills and silver dollars from the window of his bullet-proof car? Did he really keep a bevy of mistresses ensconced in his hotel headquarters in Chicago? Writing with exclusive access to Capone's descendants, Deirdre Bair finally gets at the truth behind this eternally fascinating man, who was equal parts charismatic mobster, doting father, and calculating monster"--

His Life, Legacy, and Legend

Al Capone

Details one of The New Yorker's most iconic artists' life, his friends, his relationships and his adventures.

Saul Steinberg

Jung

سيرة

ذكريات باريسية: صامويل بيكيت وسيمون دو بوفوار وأنا

This definitive biography is based on five years of interviews with de Beauvoir, and is written with her full cooperation. Bair penetrates the mystique of this brilliant and often paradoxical woman, who has been called one of the great minds of the 20th century, and surely, one of the most famously unconventional figures of her generation. "As a reference work . . . Simone de Beauvoir can be considered definitive."--The Atlantic. 16-page photographic insert.

A biography

Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir and Me - a Memoir

A PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year National Book Award-winning biographer Deirdre Bair explores her fifteen remarkable years in Paris with Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, painting intimate new portraits of two literary giants and revealing secrets of the biographical art. In 1971 Deirdre Bair was a journalist and recently minted Ph.D. who managed to secure access to Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett. He agreed that she could be his biographer despite her never having written—or even read—a biography before. The next seven years comprised of intimate conversations, intercontinental research, and peculiar cat-and-mouse games. Battling an elusive Beckett and a string of jealous, misogynistic male writers, Bair persevered. She wrote Samuel Beckett: A Biography, which went on to win the National Book Award and propel Deirdre to her next subject: Simone de Beauvoir. The catch? De Beauvoir and Beckett despised each other—and lived essentially on the same street. Bair learned that what works in terms of process for one biography rarely applies to the next. Her seven-year relationship with the domineering and difficult de Beauvoir required a radical change in approach, yielding another groundbreaking literary profile and influencing Bair’s own feminist beliefs. Parisian Lives draws on Bair’s extensive notes from the period, including never-before-told anecdotes. This gripping memoir is full of personality and warmth and gives us an entirely new window on the all-too-human side of these legendary thinkers.

Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me: A Memoir

"Born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, to poor, Italian immigrant parents, Al Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. Writing with exclusive access to Capone's descendants, Deirdre Bair finally gets at the truth behind this eternally fascinating man, who was equal parts charismatic mobster, doting father, and calculating monster"--

El Al Capone humano tras el Al Capone de leyenda: entre la crónica y el documento, una biografía íntima e innovadora. En 1964, en un ensayo recogido en el volumen Política y delito, Hans Magnus Enzensberger hacía una terrible comparación entre la mafia de Estados Unidos y el mundo empresarial. Los mafiosos no atracaban bancos, no robaban la nómina de las compañías: eran comerciantes que negociaban con mercancías ilícitas, imponían precios a los minoristas y de vez en cuando mataban a un competidor. Eran la prueba de que toda empresa capitalista, llevada a sus últimas consecuencias, se convertía en una organización criminal. El primer gángster que quiso poner orden en el hampa local y organizarla como una gran compañía fue Al Capone; su feudo era Chicago. Lucky Luciano perfeccionó su método, organizando el trust de «familias» de Nueva York. Desde los años treinta, el cine de gángsters que ha querido retratar a Al Capone lo ha presentado siempre del mismo modo: como un monstruo sin escrúpulos que dirigía una organización de salvajes, y que al final cayó gracias a la tenacidad de Eliot Ness y sus Intocables. Los biógrafos serios hace tiempo que derribaron el mito de Eliot Ness, un funcionario que no tuvo nada que ver con la detención de Capone. El presente estudio de Deirdre Bair socava el otro mito, el que dice que Al Capone era un psicópata sediento de sangre, y nos presenta a un personaje complejo, despiadado para los negocios, humano y sensible para los asuntos familiares, que abrió comedores sociales durante la Depresión y que, a diferencia de los mafiosos de Nueva York, ni siquiera era racista. Entre la crónica de sucesos y el documento antropológico, la biografía de Bair, basada en su mayor parte en entrevistas con descendientes de Al Capone, es una obra innovadora que prefiere profundizar en los sentimientos y los vínculos entre las personas.

Draws on unpublished archives and journals to provide a portrait of the controversial author, her literary work, and her complex personal life

C.E.H.M. Quant

biografie

Christine Quant

From National Book Award winner Deirdre Bair, the definitive biography of Saul Steinberg, one of The New Yorker's most iconic artists. The issue date was March 29, 1976. The New Yorker cost 75 cents. And on the cover unfolded Saul Steinberg's vision of the world: New York City, the Hudson River, and then...well, it's really just a bunch of stuff you needn't concern yourself with. Steinberg's brilliant depiction of the world according to self-satisfied New Yorkers placed him squarely in the pantheon of the magazine's—and the era's—most celebrated artists. But if you look beyond the searing wit and stunning artistry, you'll find one of the most fascinating lives of the twentieth century. Born in Romania, Steinberg was educated in Milan and was already famous for his satirical drawings when World War II forced him to immigrate to the United States. On a single day, Steinberg became a US citizen, a commissioned officer in the US Navy, and a member of the OSS, assigned to spy in China, North Africa, and Italy. After the war ended, he returned to America and to his art. He quickly gained entree into influential circles that included Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov, Willem de Kooning, and Le Corbusier. His wife was the artist Hedda Sterne, from whom he separated in 1960 but never divorced and with whom he remained in daily contact for the rest of his life. This conveniently freed him up to amass a coterie of young mistresses and lovers. But his truly great love was the United States, where he traveled extensively by bus, train, and car, drawing, observing, and writing. His body of work is staggering and influential in ways we may not yet even be able to fully grasp, quite possibly because there has not been a full-scale biography of him until now. Deirdre Bair had access to 177 boxes of documents and more than 400 drawings. In addition, she conducted several hundred personal interviews. Steinberg's curious talent for creating myths about himself did not make her job an easy one, but the result is a stunning achievement to admire and enjoy. The electronic version of this title does not contain the 35 Saul Steinberg illustrations that are available in the print edition.

Sharanya Manivannan

Tristine Rainer

Angela Meyer

Paul Herron

Daisy Aldan

Connie Baechler

Sarah Burghauser

Joel Enos

John Ferrone

Adrian Haidu

Dawn Kaczmar

Kim Krizan

Laura Marello

Cari Lynn Vaughn

Marc Widershein

The Anais Nin Literary Journal

A Cafe in Space

Deirdre Bair has written about some of the most influential figures in 20th century culture - Samuel Beckett, Simone De Beauvoir and Anais Nin. Now she turns her expert eye to the one person whose teachings and writings are the most influential of all: psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. Jung was Freud's 'crown prince', hand picked by the founding father of psychoanalysis to become the first president of the International Psychoanalytic Association in 1910. Their professional relationship ended in 1914 when Jung could not accept Freud's emphasis on infantile sexuality. Jung abandoned Freud's theory to found his own system of Analytical psychology. As Freud's influence has waned over the years, Jung's ideas - the collective unconscious, the archetypal myths underpinning all societies, synchronocity, 'new age' spirituality and much more - have achieved an overwhelming ascendancy. Bair addresses the myths about Jung - accusations that he was an anti-Semite and a misogynist and that he falsified data - with evidence from his own writings and from those of his colleagues and former patients. The result is groundbreaking and accessible.

Examines the psychological agonies of Beckett's young manhood, his World War II heroism, his enigmatic character, and the growth of his style which revolutionized modern theater.

Deirdre Bair

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