num_pages: 185
description: If cultured people are expected to have read all the significant works of literature and thousands more are published each year what are we supposed to do in those inevitable social situations where we're forced to talk about books we haven't read?In this delightfully witty provocative book a huge hit in France that has drawn attention from critics and readers around the world literature professor and psychoanalyst Pierre Bayard argues that not having read a book need not be an impediment to having an interesting conversation about it. (In fact he says in certain situations reading the book is the worst thing you could do). Using examples from such writers as Graham Greene Oscar Wilde Montaigne and Umberto Eco he describes the varieties of non-readingfrom books that you've never heard of to books that you've read and forgottenand offers advice on how to turn a sticky social situation into an occasion for creative brilliance. Practical funny and thought-provoking How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read is in the end a love letter to books offering a whole new perspective on how we read and absorb them. It's a book for book lovers everywhere to enjoy ponder and argue aboutand perhaps even read.Pierre Bayard is a professor of French literature at the University of Paris VIII and a psychoanalyst. He is the author of Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? and of many other books. Jeffrey Mehlman is a professor of French at Boston University and the author of a number of books including Emigr New York. He has translated works by Derrida Lacan Blanchot and other authors.
language: English
title: How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read
publisher: Bloomsbury