Things I Don't Want to Know
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  • Published: 6 February 2014
  • ISBN: 9780241146576
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 96

Things I Don't Want to Know

Living Autobiography 1

Formats & editions
Paperback
16 Apr 2018
EBook
6 Feb 2014
Audiobook
5 Apr 2018
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A sparklingly written and brilliantly insightful longform essay from the author of the acclaimed Swimming Home

'Things I Don't Want to Know' is a response to George Orwell from one of our most vital contemporary writers. Taking Orwell's famous list of motives for writing as the jumping-off point for a sequence of thrilling reflections on the writing life, this is a perfect companion both to Orwell's essay and to Levy's own oeuvre.

'In her powerful rejoinder to Orwell, Deborah Levy responds to his proposed motives for writing -- 'sheer egoism', 'aesthetic enthusiasm', 'historical impulse' and 'political purpose' -- with illuminating moments of autobiography. A vivid, striking account of a writer's life, which feminises and personalises Orwell's blunt assertions' Spectator
  • Published: 6 February 2014
  • ISBN: 9780241146576
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 96
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About the author

Deborah Levy

Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she is the author of numerous books, including the essay 'Things I Don't Want to Know'and the early novels Swallowing Geography and Beautiful Mutants. Her novel Swimming Home was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, 2012 Specsavers National Book Awards and 2013 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize.

Also by Deborah Levy

August Blue
Real Estate
The Cost of Living
Hot Milk
The Man Who Saw Everything
Beautiful Mutants
Swallowing Geography
See all

Praise for Things I Don't Want to Know

A writer whose anger and confusion in the face of the world transform into poetic flights of fancy . . . which always feel marvellously right

Independent

An exciting writer, sharp and shocking as the knives her characters wield

Sunday Times

An up-to-date version of 'A Room of One's Own' . . . I suspect it will be quoted for many years to come

Irish Examiner

Levy's strength is her originality of thought and expression

Jeanette Winterson

One of the few contemporary British writers comfortable on a world stage

New Statesman

Superb sharpness and originality of imagination. It is feminist and political while being an inspiring work of writing . . . She writes on the high wire, unfalteringly

Marina Warner