Written Lives

Javier Marías

Editions

Review

One of our favourite novelists presents a 'playful' selection of biographies of literary figures: Lampedusa "in class", Kipling "without jokes", Rilke "in waiting", Mme du Deffand "and the idiots" and so forth.  Followed by a sequence on "fugitive women".  Each sketch occupies three or four pages and, if not exactly semi-fictional, might be described as semi-conjectural.  In any case, you get a better sense of the subjects than can often be gained from a full-length biography.  It concludes with a fascinating essay on authors' photographs.  This might not belong to Marias's main oeuvre, but it is truly a delight.  It has been our bestselling book in 2006. - review by Johnny de Falbe