Pre-Owned Adultery and Other Diversions (Hardcover) 1559704705 9781559704700

In Adultery and Other Diversions, Tim Parks's ambition is, as he puts it, to "dramatize the intimate relation between reflections that are timeless and the ongoing stories of our lives". He succeeds magnificently. Whether his topic is adultery, marriage, his relationship with his father, a bus trip to France, ghosts, his children, war heroes, a lecture by V. S. Naipaul, Italian soccer mania, or his work as a renowned writer and translator, Parks writes with astonishing intensity and clarity. He is one of a handful of writers who can give us human drama -- erratic pulse and all -- and find a perspective by which that drama might be understood, even illuminated. Intimate, compelling, unsparing, but ultimately inspiring, the pieces in Adultery and Other Diversions are reflections of a writer's life, and the ongoing story of his discoveries.