Un auteur britannique réputé pour ses écrits de voyage, ses essais critiques et ses romans. Ses œuvres abordent souvent des thèmes profonds à travers le prisme du voyage, révélant la nature humaine et les nuances sociétales. Le style de Raban se caractérise par son observation aiguë et son talent littéraire, offrant aux lecteurs une exploration captivante du monde.
This memoir delves into themes of family, memory, and the inevitability of mortality, offering a poignant reflection on the author's life experiences. As Jonathan Raban's final work, it combines personal narrative with profound insights, inviting readers to explore the complexities of human connections and the passage of time. Through his unique perspective, Raban crafts a compelling story that resonates deeply with the universal journey of understanding one's roots and facing life's ultimate questions.
In the not-too-distant future, national identity cards are mandatory, and America has become obsessed with intelligence-gathering. The government’s scrutiny is omnipresent, civilians freely indulge their curiosity on the Internet, journalists pursue their investigations with relentless determination, and children both snoop on their parents and manipulate new technologies.In Seattle, the unfulfilled actor Tad Zachary now performs mostly in the Department of Homeland Security’s fictional disaster scenarios, while his friend and neighbor Lucy Bengstrom struggles to support her eleven-year-old daughter, Alida, on a freelance journalist’s meager income–with their landlord providing additional threats. Then Lucy is assigned to write a profile of August Vanags, a retired professor turned best-selling author with his memoir of a childhood ravaged by World War II, but the validity of his account grows questionable, even as Lucy and Alida are charmed by both Vanags and his lonesome wife.Everyone here is under surveillance or conducting it, and at risk of confusing what might be true for what actually is–a distinction not easily honored in a time of personal stress and widespread panic, when terrorist attack and literary fraud lurk around every corner. With precision and compassion, Jonathan Raban captures not only a peculiar period in our ongoing history but also a rich variety of lives caught up in fault lines that reach throughout society.
Jonathan Raban legt mit seiner Elf-Meter-Ketsch in Seattle ab und segelt tausend Meilen die Pazifikküste Kanadas hinauf. Endpunkt der Reise ist Juneau, die Hauptstadt Alaskas. Seine Reiseroute führt ihn entlang alter Wasserwege der Indianer durch die 'Inside Passage', ein Labyrinth aus Sunden und Kanälen. Für den Reisenden wird der Törn zu einem äußeren wie inneren Abenteuer, zu einer unentrinnbaren Konfrontation mit der Wildnis der See und sich selbst. 'Raban vermag mit wenigen Worten Bilder zu zeichnen, die an den dunklen Ton mancher Kanalufer erinnern, wo die Wurzeln und Steine, die niedrige Böschung und ihr flüssiges Ebenbild zu verschmelzen scheinen.' Süddeutsche Zeitung
Jonathan Raban’s powerful novel is set in Seattle in 1999, at the height of its infatuation with the virtual. It’s a place that attracts immigrants. One of these is Tom Janeway, a bookish Hungarian-born Englishman who makes his living commenting on American mores on NPR. Another, who calls himself Chick, is a frenetically industrious illegal alien from China who makes his living any way he can. Through a series of extraordinary but chillingly plausible events, the paths of these newcomers converge. Tom is uprooted from his marriage and must learn to father his endearing eight-year old son part-time. Chick claws his way up from exploited to exploiter. Meanwhile Seattle is troubled by rioting anarchists, vanishing children, and the discovery of an al-Qaeda operative; it is a city on the brink. Savage and tender, visionary and addictively entertaining, Waxwings is a major achievement. From the Trade Paperback edition.
'Raban's journey, made through empty landscaped that once brimmed with
optimism, reveals what happened when American innocence begins to curdle. The
tale, borne along by its superlative writing, is a riveting one' Observer
