Items related to The Memory Chalet
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
"It might be thought the height of poor taste to ascribe good fortune to a healthy man with a young family struck down at the age of sixty by an incurable degenerative disorder from which he must shortly die. But there is more than one sort of luck. To fall prey to a motor neuron disease is surely to have offended the Gods at some point, and there is nothing more to be said. But if you must suffer thus, better to have a well-stocked head." -Tony Judt
The Memory Chalet is a memoir unlike any you have ever read before. Each essay charts some experience or remembrance of the past through the sieve of Tony Judt's prodigious mind. His youthful love of a particular London bus route evolves into a reflection on public civility and interwar urban planning. Memories of the 1968 student riots of Paris meander through the divergent sex politics of Europe, before concluding that his generation "was a revolutionary generation, but missed the revolution." A series of road trips across America lead not just to an appreciation of American history, but to an eventual acquisition of citizenship. Foods and trains and long-lost smells all compete for Judt's attention; but for us, he has forged his reflections into an elegant arc of analysis. All as simply and beautifully arranged as a Swiss chalet-a reassuring refuge deep in the mountains of memory.
"It might be thought the height of poor taste to ascribe good fortune to a healthy man with a young family struck down at the age of sixty by an incurable degenerative disorder from which he must shortly die. But there is more than one sort of luck. To fall prey to a motor neuron disease is surely to have offended the Gods at some point, and there is nothing more to be said. But if you must suffer thus, better to have a well-stocked head." -Tony Judt
The Memory Chalet is a memoir unlike any you have ever read before. Each essay charts some experience or remembrance of the past through the sieve of Tony Judt's prodigious mind. His youthful love of a particular London bus route evolves into a reflection on public civility and interwar urban planning. Memories of the 1968 student riots of Paris meander through the divergent sex politics of Europe, before concluding that his generation "was a revolutionary generation, but missed the revolution." A series of road trips across America lead not just to an appreciation of American history, but to an eventual acquisition of citizenship. Foods and trains and long-lost smells all compete for Judt's attention; but for us, he has forged his reflections into an elegant arc of analysis. All as simply and beautifully arranged as a Swiss chalet-a reassuring refuge deep in the mountains of memory.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2010: In 2008 Tony Judt, the historian and essayist whose book Postwar was quickly recognized as one of the landmark works of our time, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. He was soon almost fully paralyzed, but before his death in the summer of 2010 he managed to produce not only two works of political and intellectual history, Ill Fares the Land and the upcoming Thinking the Twentieth Century, but also a series of short essays that had a breathtaking reception when they appeared, a few at a time, in the New York Review of Books. The pieces were remarkable both for their content and their method of composition: isolated at night in the prison of his paralysis, Judt would sort through his memories, arranging them, to better remember them, in the "rooms" of a Swiss chalet he recalled from an idyllic childhood visit, before dictating them in the morning to be published. The essays are at times political but always personal, calling up memories of food, youth, sex, education, train travel, and other subjects with a clarity and intensity born of both his historian's skills of observation and judgment and the heightened awareness of time's passage imposed by his undeniable mortality. Collected now in The Memory Chalet, these reflections make up a memoir that evokes, with clear-eyed passion, the life of the mind, as well as the body. --Tom Nissley
About the Author:
Tony Judt was the Erich Maria Remarque Professor of European Studies at New York University, as well as the founder and director of the Remarque Institute, dedicated to creating an ongoing conversation between Europe and the United States. He was educated at King’s College, Cambridge, and the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, and also taught at Cambridge, Oxford, and Berkeley.
Professor Judt was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic, The New York Times, and many journals across Europe and the United States. He is the author or editor of fifteen books, including Thinking the Twentieth Century, The Memory Chalet, Ill Fares the Land, Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century, and Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, which was one of The New York Times Book Review’s Ten Best Books of 2005, the winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He died in August 2010 at the age of sixty-two.
Professor Judt was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic, The New York Times, and many journals across Europe and the United States. He is the author or editor of fifteen books, including Thinking the Twentieth Century, The Memory Chalet, Ill Fares the Land, Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century, and Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, which was one of The New York Times Book Review’s Ten Best Books of 2005, the winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He died in August 2010 at the age of sixty-two.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherPenguin Press
- Publication date2010
- ISBN 10 1594202893
- ISBN 13 9781594202896
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages240
- Rating
Buy New
Learn more about this copy
US$ 14.25
Shipping:
US$ 2.99
Within U.S.A.
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Publishing Group
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # GRP98445360
Buy Used
US$ 6.32
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Publishing Group
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # GRP97949754
Buy Used
US$ 6.32
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Publishing Group
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Good. First Edition. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # GRP76410986
Buy Used
US$ 6.32
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Press
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Good. Shows minimal wear such as frayed or folded edges, minor rips and tears, and/or slightly worn binding. May have stickers and/or contain inscription on title page. No observed missing pages. Seller Inventory # 581V6C00050D_ns
Buy Used
US$ 6.33
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Press
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Acceptable. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00069865458
Buy Used
US$ 6.74
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Press
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_386582032
Buy Used
US$ 3.00
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Press
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.15. Seller Inventory # G1594202893I4N00
Buy Used
US$ 6.81
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Press
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.15. Seller Inventory # G1594202893I4N00
Buy Used
US$ 6.81
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Press
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 2
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.15. Seller Inventory # G1594202893I3N00
Buy Used
US$ 6.81
Convert currency
Stock Image
The Memory Chalet
Published by
Penguin Press
(2010)
ISBN 10: 1594202893
ISBN 13: 9781594202896
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.15. Seller Inventory # G1594202893I3N00
Buy Used
US$ 6.81
Convert currency