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Still Pictures

On Photography and Memory
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( 829 ratings, 166 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Still Pictures by Janet Malcolm is a compelling exploration of the author's life through a series of evocative photographs. Each image serves as a starting point for Malcolm's insightful reflections on memory, identity, and the art of photography, providing readers with intimate glimpses into her personal and professional world. The memoir blends visual storytelling with poignant narrative, creating a poignant meditation on how images shape our understanding of the past.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate introspective explorations of memory and identity. Through a series of evocative photographs, the author weaves personal recollections with insightful reflections on family and self-discovery, creating a rich tapestry that invites readers to ponder their own past.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The final work of one of the greatest non-fiction writers of the last century is a stunningly original memoir and a moving exploration of family history.

For decades, Janet Malcolm's books and dispatches for the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books poked and prodded at reportorial and biographical convention, gesturing towards the artifice that underpins both public and private selves. In Still Pictures, she turns her gimlet eye on her own life.

Beginning with the image of a morose young girl on her way from Prague to New York in 1939, to fitful early loves and her fascination with what it might mean to be a 'bad girl', Malcolm assembles a composite portrait of a New York childhood, one that never escapes the tug of Europe and the mysteries of fate and family. Later, she delves into the world of William Shawn's New Yorker and the infamous libel trial that saw her become a character in her own drama.

Written with Malcolm's peerless skill and sharp wit, this memoir from a titan of American letters is unlike any other.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Janet Malcolm's Still Pictures is praised as a profound and evocative work that diverges from conventional memoir styles by weaving stories around photographs from her past. The book is lauded for its introspective depth, revealing Malcolm's ability to explore personal and universal themes with Czech humour and a journalistic attention to detail. Critics describe it as a compelling and transformative contribution to life writing, showcasing Malcolm's skill in balancing personal introspection with broader, humanistic insights.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781922458735

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 17 January 2023

Country: Australia

Imprint: The Text Publishing Company

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 167g

Pages: 176

About the Author

Janet Malcolm (1934-2021) was the author of many books, including In the Freud Archives; The Journalist and the Murderer; Two Lives- Alice and Gertrude, which won the 2008 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography; and Forty-One False Starts, which was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. She was a frequent contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. In 2017, Malcolm received the Gold Medal for Belles Lettres and Criticism from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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    Is it ever possible to know 'the truth' about Sylvia Plath and her marriage to Ted Hughes, which ended with her suicide? In The Silent Woman, Janet Malcolm (author of Reading Chekhov, The Journalist and the Murderer and In the Freud Archives) examines the biographies of Sylvia Plath, with particular focus on Anne Stevenson's Bitter Fame, to discover how Plath...
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  • Psychoanalysis
    The process known as psychoanalysis is sometimes revered, sometimes derided, and most often misunderstood. What good does it do? Can it help anyone? What risks does it pose to both patient and analyst? None of these questions can be easily answered, but in Janet Malcolm's narrative, in which all her skills as a reporter and interviewer come into play, their...
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  • Iphigenia in Forest Hills
    Prizewinning journalist Janet Malcolm discovers the elements of Greek tragedy in a sensational New York City murder trial. "Astringent and absorbing... Iphigenia in Forest Hills casts, from its first pages, a genuine spell β€” the kind of spell to which Ms. Malcolm's admirers (and I am one) have become addicted." β€”Dwight Garner, New York Times "This is shrewd and quirky...
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  • Two Lives
    Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography: the story of the mystifying relationship between the brilliant and affable Gertrude Stein and her brooding companion, Alice B. Toklas. "Janet Malcolm deftly captures Alice B. Toklas's legendary 40-year partnership with the brilliant modernist Gertrude Stein in Two Lives, clearing up a few mysteries along the wayβ€”including how two Jewish women...
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    Who will inherit the secrets of Sigmund Freud? Who will protect his reputation? Who may destroy it? In The Freud Archives is Janet Malcolm's investigation into the personalities who clash over Freud's legacy. This has become a celebrated story of seduction and betrayal, love and hatred, fantasy and reality. It is both a comedy and a tragedy. Malcolm's cast of...
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  • The Journalist And The Murderer
    'Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible'. In equal measure famous and infamous, Janet Malcolm's book charts the true story of a lawsuit between Jeffrey MacDonald, a convicted murderer, and Joe McGinniss, the author of a book about the crime. Lauded...
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