Showing titles in Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence

Kafka und sein Vaterkonflikt: Nie tritt er offener zutage als in seinem berühmten Brief an den Vater, der allerdings nie abgeschickt wurde. Noch heute ein unabdingbarer Bestandteil der Schullektüre!

July 13, 1938: The renowned nuclear physicist Lise Meitner, approaching the age of 60, sits on the train that will take her to the German-Dutch border and then to the safety of exile in Sweden. After months of uncertainty and fear, as a Jew in Nazi Germany, she has abandoned everything: her friends, her career, and her beloved adopted home, the city of Berlin, where she had become a pioneer in the world of nuclear physics.

Hannah Arendt und Mary McCarthy lernen sich 1945 in einer Bar in Manhattan kennen, werden Freundinnen und schreiben sich über fünfundzwanzig Jahre lang Briefe: Dokumente eines unverbrüchlichen Vertrauens, zugleich ein beispiellos offener Dialog zweier intelligenter Frauen, die beherzt und unvoreingenommen über alles sprachen, was sie bewegte: Politik, Moral, ihre Bücher, ihre Männer. Hier begegnen sich Judentum und Katholizismus, europäische Bildung und politische Kultur Amerikas, deutsche Universitätstradition und Upper-Class-College-Erziehung.

Un appassionato scambio di lettere che disegna la biografia emotiva e la vita di una coppia bella e dannata, quella di Francis Scott Fitzgerald e sua moglie Zelda. Poche storie d'amore sono diventate una leggenda come questa: uno scrittore di disarmante talento che morì a quarantaquattro anni consumato dalla tubercolosi e dall'alcol, soltanto otto anni prima che l'eterna ragazza in cui aveva specchiato tutte le sue turbolente eroine bruciasse nel rogo di una clinica per malattie mentali.

Esiste un modo non impersonale di vivere i social? È possibile ridurre e non aumentare le distanze? Stabilire contatti "reali", anche se spesso la conoscenza è e resta soltanto "virtuale"? Si può rimanere se stessi, senza stravolgere la propria identità, né lasciarsi trascinare nel gioco, non sempre divertente o innocente, della finzione? Ci si può incontrare su un piano di autenticità e onestà intellettuale, evitando "post-verità" e "hate speech"? C'è posto per pensieri veri, parole vere, sentimenti ed emozioni vere.

Le "lettere del cuore" di Natalia Aspesi sul Venerdì di Repubblica diventano uno spettacolo. Un viaggio attraverso la vita sentimentale e sessuale degli italiani nel corso degli ultimi trent'anni. I tradimenti, le trasgressioni, le paure, i pregiudizi. Migliaia di storie intorno all'amore e alla passione che, incredibilmente, non cambiano con il passare dei decenni e l'evoluzione del costume.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart war nicht nur ein begnadeter Musiker, sondern auch ein leidenschaftlicher Briefeschreiber. Schon früh begann er, mit Freunden und Familienmitgliedern zu korrespondieren. Die meisten Briefe, die den Schlüssel zu Mozarts Leben und Werk liefern, sandte er an seinen Vater Leopold. Während er bei anderen Adressaten oft in einen spielerisch-schelmischen Schreibstil verfiel, zeigte er sich seinem Vater gegenüber tiefgründiger. Wer das »Wunderkind« nur von seiner musikalischen Seite kennt, sollte die Briefe von Vater und Sohn, gelesen von Peter und Paul Matić, unbedingt auf sich wirken lassen.

Revolutionär, Mediziner, Poet, Philosoph, Entdecker - vor seinem frühen Tod hatte Georg Büchner bereits in drei Städten studiert, die"»Gesellschaft der Menschenrechte" gegründet und war als Verfasser politischer Flugblätter verfolgt worden. Welcher Geist steckte hinter diesem unermüdlichen jungen Mann? Welche Gedanken und Ängste trieben ihn um? Einblicke gewähren die wenigen erhaltenen Briefe, die das Ausnahmetalent an seine Eltern, Geschwister und Freunde schrieb.

Als Simenon nach Lüttich kommt, um seine greise Mutter in ihren letzten Tagen zu begleiten, richten sich Augen von verwaschenem Grau auf ihn. "Warum bist du gekommen, Georges?" So beginnt ein letztes, regloses Duell zwischen Mutter und Sohn. Aufgewachsen in ärmlichen Verhältnissen war das Leben der Mutter geprägt von Entbehrungen und von unbedingtem Aufstiegswillen. Menschen auf der Straße begegnete sie sanft, ihre Nächsten jedoch behandelte sie schroff und unduldsam. Ihr Sohn war nie gut genug. Haben sie einander je verstanden, haben sie sich je geliebt?

Il est une forme qui fertilise les champs littéraire et politique au XVIIIe : celle de la lettre. Et plus spécifiquement celle de la correspondance féminine. Elle est l'expression, pour les femmes de l'élite aristocratique, d'une progressive percée du domaine privé au terrain public. S'appuyant sur le précédent sévignéen, les épistolières ont compris que la lettre est action.

Texte intégral lu par Thomas Compère Morel. "La Lettre au père" de Franz Kafka est l'une des œuvres majeures du XXe siècle. L'une des particularités de cette "Lettre au père", écrite en 1919, est que son destinataire n'en eut pas connaissance. La passion que Thomas Compère Morel nourrit pour Franz Kafka et pour sa "Lettre au père" nous a impressionnés. Son rapport fusionnel avec cette œuvre incomparable nous a convaincus qu'il pouvait en faire une lecture qui restitue la force et la beauté du texte.

La dernière guerre, Marguerite Duras l'a vécue tout à la fois comme femme dont le mari avait été déporté, comme résistante, mais aussi comme écrivain. Lucide, étonnée, désespérée parfois, elle a pendant ces années tenu un journal, écrit des textes que lui inspiraient tout ce qu'elle voyait, ce qu'elle vivait, les gens qu'elle rencontrait ou affrontait. Ce sont des extraits de son journal, que Marguerite Duras a réunis dans un recueil de nouvelles, "La douleur". La première d'entre elles porte le même titre. Adeline d'Hermy a choisi de la lire.

Listen to Confederate Girl's Diary with a movie-style soundtrack and amplify your audiobook experience. Sarah Morgan Dawson was a young woman of 20 living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when she began this diary. The American Civil War was raging. Though at first the conflict seemed far away, it would eventually be brought home to her in very personal terms.

In Letters of Note: War, Shaun Usher brings together some of the most remarkable letters that encapsulate the human experience of war, from unimaginable feats of courage and compassion, to unthinkable episodes of violence and horror. A star-studded cast of readers brings the letters to life, with contributions from Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jude Law, Natascha McElhone, Clarke Peters, Juliet Stevenson and Mark Strong.

A number one New York Times best-selling author, Harvard Law School professor, and tireless defender of civil liberties unearths a little-known letter by his hero, Thomas Jefferson, and shares its secrets. The letter illuminates Jefferson’s views on freedom of speech in a way that has important implications for the country today, particularly in the struggle against terrorism. This book is about the remarkable letter Alan Dershowitz found, how he found it, and why it matters not only to him, but to us today.

Nature took on a new importance for thousands of people when the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Britain, providing solace in a time of great anxiety - not least because the crisis struck at the beginning of spring, the season of hope and renewal, and furthermore, in an extraordinary conjunction, the spring of 2020 turned out to be the loveliest spring ever recorded in Britain. Three nature writers, living like everyone else under lockdown, but walking out each day to exercise, resolved to record their experiences of the coronavirus spring, in widely contrasting parts of the country.

Between 1881, when Churchill was just six, and 1921, the year of his mother's death, Winston Churchill and Jennie Jerome were prolific and energetic correspondents. Their exchange of letters has never before been published as a volume of correspondence, and many of these intimate letters - between two highly gifted writers - are being published here for the first time. A significant addition to the Churchill canon, Darling Winston traces Churchill's emotional, intellectual and political development as confided to his main mentor.

Amanda Vaill, Jerome Robbins biographer and authority, drawing on the vast and closely held Robbins archives, has put together a selection of his writings, giving us a sense of his extraordinary range as a thinker and artist, as well as a surprising and revealing glimpse into the mind and heart of this towering cultural giant.

These extensive and revealing letters span the life of Ralph Ellison and provide a remarkable window into the great writer’s life and work, his friendships, rivalries, anxieties, and all the questions about identity, art, and the American soul that bedeviled and inspired him until his death. They include early notes to his mother, written as an impoverished college student; lively exchanges with the most distinguished American writers and thinkers of his time, from Romare Bearden to Saul Bellow; and letters to friends and family from his hometown of Oklahoma City.

Great Diaries traces the history of the diary in all its forms, from ancient times to the present day. It brings together historical and literary diaries, artists' sketchbooks, explorers' journals and scientists' notebooks. Discover what is was life to build a pyramid, sail the seas with Magellan, travel into the heart of Africa or serve on the Western Front. Find out how writers and artists planned their masterpieces and how scientists developed their groundbreaking theories.