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Al Álvarez

Literature & Fiction

Corgi

The Savage God: A Study of Suicide

Self-Help

Death & Grief

BANTAM BOOKS

Beckett (Modern masters)

Woburn Press

Where did it all go right?

Al Alvarez, poet, critic, novelist, sportsman, and poker player, has for seventy years been hard to categorize. He is the author of the best-selling study of suicide, "The Savage God", and as poetry editor of the "Observer", he has known most of the leading poets of the second half of last century. For a time he was an influential critic and his anthology "The New Poetry" scandalised the literary community. Much of the liveliness of Alvarez's story is inspired by the ambiguous fate of being an English Jew. Although his family had been settled in London for more than two centuries, being Jewish always made them feel like outsiders. He went from Oundle, an English public school, to Oxford, where an academic career beckoned; instead he embarked on life as a freelance writer. Meanwhile he climbed mountains, played poker and wrote books about these pastimes which are now regarded as classics. "Where Did It All Go Right?" is his memorable, irreverent account of that journey.

Where Did It All Go Right?

Humor & Entertainment

Puzzles & Games

Bloomsbury Paperbacks

Using the untimely death of the poet and friend, Sylvia Plath, as a point of departure, Al Alvarez confronts the controversial and often taboo area of human behaviour: suicide. "The Savage God" explores the cultural attitudes, theories, truths and fallacies surrounding suicide and refracts them through the windows of philosophy, art and literature: following the black thread leading from Dante, through Donne, Chatterton and the Romantic Agony, to Dada and Pavese. Entwined within this sensitive study is the author's deeply personal account of his own unsuccessful suicide attempt, and together they form the most fascinating and compelling meditation on the "Savage God" at the heart of human existence.

The Savage God : A Study of Suicide

Since its first publication twenty years ago, "The Biggest Game in Town" has become a sought-after cult classic. Acclaimed writer and critic Al Alvarez delves into the murky and compelling world of high-stakes Vegas poker, where 'the next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing'. Uncovering an exotic underground rich in ambiance and eccentricity, "The Biggest Game in Town" is a real one of a kind, deftly capturing the skewed psyches and peculiar rites of professional poker players who descend every year for the World Series of Poker. It's a world that seems almost too surprising and bizarre to be true. "A cool, precise, sharply witty, vivid evocation of a place and people, their appearances, behaviour and speech...Mr Alvarez is a shrewd analyst of the psychology of gamblers and a cleverly selective recorder of their bizarre talk with which, directly and indirectly, they reveal their secure grasp of unreality and their insane courage" - "Sunday Telegraph". "It will have most readers sitting on the edge of their seats" - "Sunday Times". "A new classic on gambling it's quite brilliant" - "Time Out". "This is a magnificent book. Beyond the straights and full houses, Alvarez has written about people who are extremely good at what they do, and about America" - "San Francisco Chronicle".

The Biggest Game in Town

Feeding the Rat is the story of an extraordinary man: climbing legend Mo Anthoine, who found his greatet joy in adventures that tested the far limits of human endurance. That passion for "feeding the rat" made him the unsung hero of dozens of horrifying epics in the mountains, including the famous ogre expedition that nearly killed Doug Scott and sir Chris Bonington. The book is also the story of the extraordinary friendship between Mo and adrenaline junky Al Alvarez - the distinguished poet, journalist and critic - whose deeply moving portrait of his longtim climbing partner is a classic of adventure literature.

Feeding the Rat : A Climber's Life on the Edge

Biographies & Memoirs

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Al Alvarez's writing career has come in many guises. One of the most influential post-war critics, he has written profoundly and eloquently about writers and their craft for over fifty years. As the Observer's poetry editor he introduced British readers to the new poetry of the fifties and sixties, most famously of course to the poetry of Sylvia Plath. But Alvarez has also been a passionate amateur of risky pursuits - poker playing, mountaineering, flying in old aeroplanes - and he has written about these subjects with a rare depth, liveliness and perception. Risky Business is a selection of Alvarez's finest essays. Ranging from trenchant literary criticism to accounts of polar expeditions and poker championships, it is a sparkling and eclectic collection from our most unusual man of letters.

Risky Business: People, Pastimes, Poker and Books

Essays & Correspondence

Bloomsbury Publishing

Der Grausame Gott: Eine Studie über den Selbstmord

Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verl.

Yeni Bir Sol Uzerine Tartismalar

Hilary Wainwright

Ayrıntı Yayınları

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