Marie Darrieussecq Libros

The short, obscure, and prolific life of the German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907), a significant figure in modernism. First published in France in 2016, Being Here Is So Much traces the short, obscure, and prolific life of the German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907). In a brief career, cut short by her death from an embolism at the age of thirty-one, shortly after she gave birth to a child, Modersohn-Becker trained in Germany, traveled often to Paris, developed close friendships with the sculptor Clara Westhoff and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and became one of her generation's preeminent artists, helping introduce modernity to the twentieth century alongside such other painters as Picasso and Matisse. Marie Darrieussecq's triumphant and illuminating biography at once revives Modersohn-Becker's reputation as a significant figure in modernism and sheds light on the extreme difficulty women have faced in attaining recognition and establishing artistic careers.

• An unconventional biography of the German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker by one of France's most acclaimed literary talents • Once overlooked by art historians, Modersohn-Becker was a bold and remarkable woman who challenged conventions both at home and in her art • In her characteristically elliptical, probing prose, Darrieussecq depicts a vivid portrait of Paula as a young woman and artist, her troubled marriage, ongoing struggles with poverty, the sense of conflict she felt between creativity and motherhood, and her tragic death at 31, just days after giving birth • Modersohn-Becker wrote hundreds of letters and maintained a diary throughout her short lifetime and Darrieussecq imbues Being Here with direct quotations from Paula's own writings • Today, Modersohn-Becker is widely recognised as the first female painter to paint female nudes, while she and fellow artists Picasso and Matisse are credited as having introduced the world to modernism in the early twentieth century • ‘Marie Darrieussecq reads the testament of Modersohn-Becker—the letters, the diaries, and above all the paintings—with a burning intelligence and a fierce hold on what it meant and means to be a woman and an artist.’ J. M. Coetzee

In his new book, Juergen Teller portrays model Raquel Zimmermann in his childhood home, creating a surreal and morbid narrative reminiscent of a German fairy tale. The images depict themes of sacrifice and otherworldly connections, reflecting on his upbringing in Germany. Teller, known for his radical fashion photography, has received numerous accolades.

It is 2015. Edmee and Pete are engineers on a remote research station in Antarctica. Both are running from tragic events at home. In this setting of magnificent desolation, just fifteen kilometres from the South Pole, a love affair begins to flourish - until there is a catastrophic power failure at the base . . .

Set in the Blue Mountains and in Sydney, Tom is Dead is a suspense novel about grief. The narrator's son has been dead for ten years; he was four and a half. For the first time since that day, she spends a few minutes without thinking of him. To stop herself from forgetting, she tries to write Tom's story, the story of his death. She writes about the first hours, the first days, and then about the hours and the days before. She strives to describe it all as precisely as possible. It's the details that will lead her and the reader to the truth.

The narrative follows a mother and daughter who retreat to an isolated seaside town in Spain, where the ocean's presence profoundly influences their lives. As they navigate their relationship and personal challenges, the allure of the sea becomes a pivotal element in their journey of self-discovery and connection.

What is it like to live with chronic insomnia? In Sleepless, Marie Darrieussecq recounts her own experiences alongside those of fellow insomniacs, writers and artists including Virginia Woolf, Marguerite Duras and Franz Kafka.

An exploration of loss and guilt, A Brief Stay with the Living is the story of a mother and her three grown-up daughters. Jeanne, the eldest, has moved to Argentina with her husband; Anne lives alone in Paris, but is in the throes of an unhappy affair with a married man; and Nore, the youngest, is in her first year at university but still living at home. Although not close, all four women are drawn together by an incident from their past - a secret that the story only gradually reveals.

In the near future, a woman is writing in the depths of a forest. She’s cold. Her body is falling apart, as is the world around her. She’s lost the use of one eye; she’s down to one kidney, one lung. Before, in the city, she was a psychotherapist, treating patients who had suffered trauma, in particular a man, “the clicker”. Every two weeks, she travelled out to the Rest Centre, to visit her “half”, Marie, her spitting image, who lay in an induced coma, her body parts available whenever the woman needed them. As a form of resistance against the terror in the city, the woman flees, along with other fugitives and their halves. But life in the forest is disturbing too—the reanimated halves are behaving like uninhibited adolescents. And when she sees a shocking image of herself on video, are her worst fears confirmed? Our Life in the Forest, written in her inimitable concise, vivid prose recalls Darrieusecq’s brilliant debut, Pig Tales. A dystopian tale in the vein of Never Let Me Go, this is a clever novel of chilling suspense that challenges our ideas about the future, about organ-trafficking, about identity, clones, and the place of the individual in a surveillance state.

Exploring female desire and the complexities of womanhood, Marie Darrieussecq employs her signature intensity, edginess, and humor. The narrative delves into the intricacies of identity and the experiences that shape women's lives, offering a thought-provoking perspective on femininity.