image of person or book cover 7641817448982278744.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives single work   autobiography   travel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2008... 2008 Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'One Sunday afternoon in a secluded valley in Normandy, Robert Dessaix chanced upon the castle where the 20th-century French writer Andre Gide spent his childhood. Recalling the excitement he felt when he first read Gide as a teenager, Dessaix sets off to recapture what it was that once drew him so strongly to this enigmatic figure.

'On a magic carpet ride from Lisbon to the edge of the Sahara, from Paris to the south of France and Algiers, he takes us to the places where the Nobel Prize winning author, in ways still scandalous to modern sensibilities, lived out his unconventional ideas about love, marriage, sexuality and religion.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Brio).

Exhibitions

17261344
17024138

Notes

  • Epigraph: We always write in order to remember the truth, When we invent, it is only in order to remember the truth more exactly. Luis Fernando Verissimo in Borges and the Eternal Urangutans.
  • Epigraph: Home is heaven and orgies are vile, But you need an orgy once in a while. Ogden Nash.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Picador , 2008 .
      image of person or book cover 7641817448982278744.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 320p.
      Description: illus., map
      ISBN: 9780330424059 (hbk.)
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Brio Books , 2017 .
      image of person or book cover 3895954170433333925.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 280p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published July 2017.

      ISBN: 9781925589009

Works about this Work

Robert Dessaix, André Gide and the Poor Boys of Algeria Michael Connor , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Quadrant , April vol. 58 no. 4 2014; (p. 66-72)
The Arabesques of Paradox Danielle Wood (interviewer), Robert Dessaix (interviewer), 2008 single work interview
— Appears in: Island , Summer no. 115 2008; (p. 8-14)
Editor's note: Robert Dessaix ... has recently published a curious and fascinating book, Arabesques, which blends travel memoir with a life of Andre Gide. Here Robert converses with fellow Tasmanian author Danielle Wood ... Danielle has recently embarked on a nonfiction project which involves researching and writing about Tasmania's housewife superstar Marjorie Bligh. From Bligh to Gide, these two subtle thinkers converse about the joys and complexities of writing 'a life'.
ArtsBooks Phil Brown , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Brisbane News , 22 - 28 October no. 708 2008; (p. 35)

— Review of The Devil's Eye Ian Townsend , 2008 single work novel ; Women of the Outback Sue Williams , 2008 single work biography ; Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography
Inside Journey Christopher Bantick , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 25 - 26 October 2008; (p. 25)

— Review of Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography
The Age of Experience Katharine England , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 25 October 2008; (p. 12)

— Review of Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography ; The Rip Robert Drewe , 2008 selected work short story
Looking and Seeing Luke Slattery , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 3 no. 9 2008; (p. 16-17)

— Review of Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography
Read of the Week Owen Richardson , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 5 October 2008; (p. 26)

— Review of Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography
The Line of Beauty Ian Britain , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 4 October 2008; (p. 24)

— Review of Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography
Barefoot on Sharp Stones Chris Wallace-Crabbe , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 305 2008; (p. 15-16)

— Review of Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography
Pilgrimage Alexandra Coghlan , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Monthly , October no. 39 2008; (p. 66-68)

— Review of Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives Robert Dessaix , 2008 single work autobiography
Guided by Gide: Travelling to Forget and to Remember Gia Metherell , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 27 September 2008; (p. 12-13)
Aiming for a Banality of the Superior Kind Helen Greenwood , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 27 September 2008; (p. 25) The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 September 2008; (p. 30-31)
The Arabesques of Paradox Danielle Wood (interviewer), Robert Dessaix (interviewer), 2008 single work interview
— Appears in: Island , Summer no. 115 2008; (p. 8-14)
Editor's note: Robert Dessaix ... has recently published a curious and fascinating book, Arabesques, which blends travel memoir with a life of Andre Gide. Here Robert converses with fellow Tasmanian author Danielle Wood ... Danielle has recently embarked on a nonfiction project which involves researching and writing about Tasmania's housewife superstar Marjorie Bligh. From Bligh to Gide, these two subtle thinkers converse about the joys and complexities of writing 'a life'.
Robert Dessaix, André Gide and the Poor Boys of Algeria Michael Connor , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Quadrant , April vol. 58 no. 4 2014; (p. 66-72)
Last amended 19 Sep 2017 15:04:42
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