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Allan Hollinghurst

    26 mai 1954

    Alan Hollinghurst est un romancier anglais célébré, connu pour sa prose exquise et ses observations pointues sur les strates sociales et l'identité sexuelle. Ses romans explorent avec maestria des thèmes tels que le désir, la mémoire et le paysage changeant de la société britannique. Par un langage précis et des descriptions riches, Hollinghurst crée des récits captivants qui plongent les lecteurs dans des relations humaines complexes et des explorations intellectuelles.

    Allan Hollinghurst
    Our Evenings
    The Swimming Pool Library
    Robert Mapplethorpe, 1970-83
    Fragonard's Progress of Love
    New writing 4. An anthology
    L'enfant de l'étranger
    • L'enfant de l'étranger

      • 768pages
      • 27 heures de lecture

      Tout commence en 1913, dans le jardin de la maison de campagne des Sawle dans le Middlesex. Etudiant à Cambridge, le timide George Sawle a invité aux Deux Arpents un de ses camarades, l'aristocratique et énigmatique Cecil Valance. Ces jours dans la maison familiale et le poème qu'ils inspirent à Cecil vont changer leur destin. Et plus encore celui de Daphné, la sœur de George. En ce printemps où rien n'annonce les proches bouleversements de l'Histoire, un pacte se noue secrètement entre les trois jeunes gens, point de départ d'une fresque saisissante à travers le XXe siècle, par l'un des plus grands romanciers anglais contemporains. Un immense roman dans lequel il faut se laisser glisser. On en sort ébloui comme rarement. Alexandre Fillon, Livres-hebdo. Bienvenue dans le vertige du temps et des caprices de la mémoire. Emily Barnett, Les Inrockuptibles. Ce livre a reçu le prix du meilleur livre étranger en 2013.

      L'enfant de l'étranger
      3,4
    • A fourth collection of contemporary British literature, including poetry, essays, short stories, and previews of novels in progress. Among the many contributors, including both new and established writers, are A.S. Byatt, Nadine Gordimer, Hanif Kureishi, Fay Weldon, William Trevor and Brian Aldiss.

      New writing 4. An anthology
      4,4
    • Fragonard's Progress of Love

      • 112pages
      • 4 heures de lecture

      Designed to foster critical engagement and interest the specialist and non- specialist alike, each book in the Frick Diptych series illuminates a single work in the Frick's rich collection with an essay by a Frick curator paired with a contribution from a contemporary artist or writer

      Fragonard's Progress of Love
      4,1
    • The Swimming Pool Library

      • 304pages
      • 11 heures de lecture

      Alan Hollinghurst's first novel is a tour de force: a darkly erotic work that centres on the friendship of William Beckwith, a young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and promiscuity, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, who is searching for someone to write his biography.

      The Swimming Pool Library
      4,1
    • Our Evenings

      • 496pages
      • 18 heures de lecture

      A 'Book of the Year' for multiple prestigious publications and featured on Radio 4's 'Book at Bedtime,' this novel is hailed as the best portrayal of contemporary Britain in the past decade, blending humor with deep emotional resonance. Alan Hollinghurst, the Booker Prize-winning author, presents a darkly luminous and wickedly funny exploration of modern England through one man's unsettling experiences. The narrative delves into themes of race, class, theatre, sexuality, love, and the harsh realities of violence. Thirteen-year-old Dave Win visits the sponsors of his scholarship at a local boarding school, where a weekend of games and challenges introduces him to new possibilities while revealing the envy and aggression of their son, Giles. Over the next fifty years, their paths diverge dramatically: Dave becomes a talented actor facing societal challenges, while Giles rises as a powerful and dangerous politician. The story intimately chronicles Dave's journey from schoolboy to student, his first love affairs in London, and his time with an experimental theatre company, culminating in a transformative late-life romance that brings him newfound happiness and a precarious sense of security. The novel debuted at #9 on the Sunday Times Fiction Hardback chart.

      Our Evenings
      3,9
    • Line of Beauty

      • 438pages
      • 16 heures de lecture

      Moving into the attic room in the Notting Hill home of the wealthy, politically connected Fedden family in 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest becomes caught up in the rising fortunes of this glamorous family and finds his own life forever altered by his association during the boom years of the 1980s. By the author of The Swimming-Pool Library. 30,000 first printing.

      Line of Beauty
      3,8
    • Edward Manners -- thirty three and disaffected -- escapes to a Flemish city in search of a new life. Almost at once he falls in love with seventeen-year-old Luc, and is introduced to the twilight world of the 1890s Belgian painter Edgard Orst.

      The folding star
      3,6
    • Offshore

      • 141pages
      • 5 heures de lecture

      On the Battersea Reach of the Thames, a mixed bag of eccentrics live in houseboats. Belonging to neither land nor sea, they belong to one another. There is Maurice, a homosexual prostitute; Richard, a buttoned-up ex-navy man; but most of all there's Nenna, the struggling mother of two wild little girls. How each of their lives complicates the others is the stuff of this perfect little novel.

      Offshore
      3,6
    • The amours and intrigues of four sophisticated homosexuals in Britain, two of whom are father and son. Witty conversations and steamy sex by the author of The Swimming Pool Library.

      The Spell
      3,6
    • The Swimming-Pool Library

      • 432pages
      • 16 heures de lecture

      Young, gay, William Beckwith spends his time, and his trust fund, idly cruising London for erotic encounters. When he saves the life of an elderly man in a public convenience an unlikely job opportunity presents itself. The man is Lord Nantwich, a gay peer of the realm and in the market for a biographer. Reluctantly accepting the commission, Will receives the first of Nantwich's diaries. But in the story he unravels, a tragedy of early 20th century gay repression, lurk bitter truths about Will's own privileged existence.

      The Swimming-Pool Library
      3,5
    • The Sparsholt Affair

      • 454pages
      • 16 heures de lecture

      From the internationally acclaimed winner of the Man Booker Prize comes a masterly novel that spans seven transformative decades in England, delving into the complex relationships of a remarkable family. In 1940, David Sparsholt arrives at Oxford to study engineering, aiming to join the Royal Air Force. Charismatic and athletic, he remains unaware of his impact on others, particularly Evert Dax, the lonely son of a celebrated novelist destined to become a writer. Amid the chaos of war and the Blitz in London, Oxford serves as a backdrop of fleeting beauty and secret liaisons. A friendship between David and Evert develops, leading to unexpected consequences throughout the narrative. This novel explores David Sparsholt's legacy across three generations, revealing the shifts in taste, morality, and private life through vividly rendered episodes: a Sparsholt holiday in Cornwall, eccentric gatherings at the Dax family home, and the adventures of David's son Johnny, a painter in 1970s London. It captures the dynamics of a group of friends united by art, literature, and love. Ultimately, it reflects on the increasing openness of gay life while meditating on human transience and the deep longing for permanence and continuity.

      The Sparsholt Affair
      3,5