Michael Frayn Livres

Un parfum estival longtemps oublié ramène un vieil homme sur les lieux de son enfance, en un autre temps, en un autre pays. C'était la guerre. Pourtant, dans cette banlieue anglaise tranquille, le petit Stephen inventait des jeux avec son copain Keith, si prestigieux, si impérieux... Mais, lorsque les deux garçons se mettent en tête de jouer les espions pour traquer les agents ennemis, ils découvrent d'autres secrets sans oser les comprendre : le monde des adultes, avec ses rapports de classe, ses désirs et ses dangers. Et il faudra une vie entière pour en saisir toute l'ironie, tous les drames, tous les mystères. Dans cette magistrale recréation de l'univers enfantin, de ses terreurs et de sa soif d'aventure, un regard innocent vient buter sur une réalité brutale et déchirante, celle de l'Histoire, celle des sentiments. Et le récit d'apprentissage devient une poignante méditation sur le souvenir, le remords et les occasions perdues.

Called the funniest farce ever written, Noises Off presents a manic menagerie as a cast of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing's On. Doors slamming, on and offstage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious and classically comic play. "The play opens with a touring company dress-rehearsing Nothing On, a conventional farce. Mixing mockery and homage, Frayn heaps into this play-within-a-play a hilarious mel�e of stock characters and situations.

The two old friends, both nuclear scientists, found themselves on opposite sides in a world war, and Heisenberg's intentions on that visit, for good or for evil, have long intrigued and baffled historians and scientists.".

First published in 1974 and republished following the success of Frayn's masterly work of philosophy, The Human Touch, Constructions is a dazzling, thought-provoking and fascinating book which explores some of the great problems in philosophy and of everyday life.

'Michael Frayn's tremendous play is a piece of history, an intellectual thriller, a psychological investigation and a moral tribunal in full session' Sunday Times 'A profound and haunting meditation on the mysteries of human motivation' Independent 'Frayn has seized on a ral-life historical and scientific mystery. In 1941 the physicist Werner Heisenberg, who formulated the famous Uncertainty Principle about the movement of particles, and was at that time leading the Nazi's nuclear programme, went to visit his old boss and mentor, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen. What was the purpose of his visit to Nazi-occupied Denmark? What did the two old friends say to each other, particularly bearing in mind that Bohr was both half-Jewish and a Danish patriot?... Frayn argues that just as it is impossible to be certain of the precise location of an electron, so it is impossible to be certain about the workings of the human mind... What is certain is that Frayn makes ideas zing and sing in this play' Daily Telegraph

Signed and dedicated to the title page by the author. 'To Jackie and Turner with Best Wishes From Michael Frayn'. Includes several pages of stills from the film starring John Cleese

A striking new repackaged edition of Michael Frayn's Booker shortlisted comedy thriller, set in the world of fine art.

Three political parties, in and out of bed with each other like drunken intellectuals, fifteen warring cabinet ministers, and sixty million separate egos. All making deals with each other and breaking them. All looking round at every moment to see the expression on everyone else's face. All trying to guess which way everyone else will jump. All out for themselves and all totally dependent on everyone else. Not one Germany. Sixty million separate Germanies. The tower of Babel! Set in West Germany in 1969, Democracy follows Willy Brandt as he begins his brief but remarkable career as the first leftofcentre Chancellor for nearly forty years. Always present but rarely noticed is Günter Guillaume, Brandt's devoted personal assistant and no less devoted in his other role, spying on Brandt for the Stasi.Published to tie in with major new production at the Royal National Theatre directed by Michael Blakemore starring Roger Allam, Conleth Hill, Nicholas Blane, Jonathan Coy, Christopher Ettridge, Paul Gregory, Glyn Grain, Steven Pacey and David Ryall.

Martin Clay, a young would-be art historian, suddenly sees opening in front of him the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to perform a great public service, and at the same time to make his professional reputation - perhaps even rather a lot of money as well. Thus he finds himself drawn step by step into a moral and intellectual labyrinth. Headlong was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize.