David Shields

'Mix equal parts of anatomy and autobiography, science and self-disclosure, physiology and family history; shake, stir, add dashes of miscellany, pinches of borrowed wisdom, simmer over a low-grade fever of mortality, and a terrible beauty of a book is born.' Thomas Lynch Mesmerized and somewhat unnerved by his 97-year-old father's vitality and optimism, David Shields undertakes an original investigation of our flesh-and-blood existence, our mortal being. Weaving together personal anecdote, biological fact, philosophical doubt, cultural criticism, and the wisdom of an eclectic range of writers and thinkers from Lucretius to Woody Allen Shields expertly renders both a hilarious family portrait and a truly resonant meditation on mortality.

Based on eight years of exhaustive research and exclusive interviews with more than 200 people-and published in coordination with the international theatrical release of a major documentary film from the Weinstein Company-The Private War of J.D. Salinger is a global cultural event: the definitive biography of one of the most beloved and mysterious figures of the twentieth century. For more than fifty years, the ever elusive author of The Catcher in the Rye has been the subject of a relentless stream of newspaper and magazine articles as well as several biographies. Yet all of these attempts have been hampered by a fundamental lack of access and by the persistent recycling of inaccurate information. Salinger remains, astonishingly, an enigma. The complex and contradictory human being behind the myth has never been revealed. No longer. In the eight years since The Private War of J.D. Salinger was begun, and especially in the three years since Salinger''s death, the authors interviewed on five continents more than 200 people, many of whom had previously refused to go on the record about their relationship with Salinger. This oral biography offers direct eyewitness accounts from Salinger''s World War II brothers-in-arms, his family members, his close friends, his lovers, his classmates, his neighbors, his editors, his publishers, his New Yorker colleagues, and people with whom he had relationships that were secret even to his own family. Shields and Salerno illuminate most brightly the last fifty-six years of Salinger''s life: a period that, until now, had remained completely dark to biographers. Provided unprecedented access to never-before-published photographs (more than 100 throughout the book), diaries, letters, legal records, and secret documents, readers will feel they have, for the first time, gotten beyond Salinger''s meticulously built-up wall. The result is the definitive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures of the twentieth century.

Esta es la biografía de tu cuerpo, desde el día que naciste hasta el día en que morirás. Esta es la historia del optimismo de tu niñez, la emoción de tu adolescencia, la serenidad de tu madurez y el dolor de tu muerte. Lo que pasa con la vida es que un día estarás muerto es tu historia y también la de todos los demás. David Shields recorre el terreno que separa el nacimiento y la muerte para tratar de comprender cómo está conformada esta trama nuestra iluminándolo con datos científicos, lúcidas reflexiones y testimonios y opiniones de artistas, filósofos, poetas y figuras históricas. Con este ensayo lleno de humor, ternura, rabia y alegría, el autor nos recuerda cuál es el secreto de nuestra hermosa existencia: que un día estaremos muertos y que este momento que ha pasado nunca volverá

An instant New York Times bestseller, this explosive biography (People) of one of the most beloved and mysterious figures of the twentieth century is as close as well ever get to being inside J.D. Salingers head (Entertainment Weekly). This revealing (The New York Times) and engrossing (The Wall Street Journal) oral biography, fascinating and unique

"Un manifiesto escrito en nombre de una generación en alza de escritores y artistas, una manera de "comenzar de nuevo" en el siglo XXI, un ataque frontal a las convenciones genéricas (...) David Shields nos guia en un viaje intelectual cautivador y estimulante"J.M. Coetzee¿La novela ha muerto? ¿Tiene la realidad derechos de autor? ¿El arte es robo? ¿Quien es el dueño de las ideas? ¿Que distingue la ficcion de la no ficcion? ¿La velocidad de la cultura digital ha dejado obsoletos los modos tradicionales de creacion? Explorando estas y otras preguntas, David Shields discute sobre las cuestiones artisticas centrales de nuetro tiempo.

La primera biografía definitiva de J. D. Salinger, una de las figuras míticas del siglo XX. El autor de El guardián entre el centeno ha sido objeto de un sinfín de artículos en periódicos y revistas,

Una reflexión sobre quién es propietario de las ideas, qué distingue a la ficción de la no ficción, cuáles son las razones por las que los modos tradicionales de creación están en cuestión. Un libro con magnificas criticas de "The New Yorker", "The New York Times Review", "The Guardian", entre otros muchos. Un texto que conectara con las nuevas generaciones de lectores.