Book description
The powerful, beautiful and chilling sequel to the bestselling
Straw Dogs
John Gray draws on an extraordinary array of memoirs, poems,
fiction and philosophy to make us re-imagine our place in the world.
Writers as varied as Ballard, Borges, Freud and Conrad are mesmerised
by forms of human extremity - experiences on the outer edge of the
possible, or which tip into fantasy and myth. What happens to us when
we starve, when we fight, when we are imprisoned? And how do our
imaginations leap into worlds way beyond our real experience?
The Silence of Animals is consistently fascinating, filled
with unforgettable images and a delight in the conundrum of our
existence - an existence which we decorate with countless myths and
ideas, where we twist and turn to avoid acknowledging that we too are
animals, separated from the others perhaps only by our self-conceit.
In the Babel we have created for ourselves, it is the silence of
animals that both reproaches and bewitches us.
Reviews:
'The Silence of Animals is a new kind of book from Gray, a
sort of poetic reverie on the human state, on the state, that is, of
the human animal ... He blends lyricism with wisdom, humour with
admonition, nay-saying with affirmation, making in the process a
marvellous statement of what it is to be both an animal and a human in
the strange, terrifying and exquisite world into which we straw dogs
find ourselves thrown' John Banville, Guardian
'Interesting, original and memorable ... The Silence of
Animals is a beautifully written book, the product of a strongly
questioning mind. It is effectively an anthology with detailed
commentary, setting out one rich and suggestive episode after another'
Philip Hensher, Spectator
About the author:
John Gray has been Professor of Politics at Oxford University,
Visiting Professor at Harvard and Yale and Professor of European
Thought at the London School of Economics. He now writes full time.
His books include False Dawn: The Delusions of Global
Capitalism, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other
Animals and The Immortalization Commission: The Strange Quest
to Cheat Death. His selected writings, Gray's Anatomy,
was published in 2009.
John Gray has been Professor of Politics at Oxford University,
Visiting Professor at Harvard and Yale and Professor of European Thought
at the London School of Economics. He now writes full time. His books
include
False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism
,
Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals
and
The Immortalization Commission: The Strange Quest to Cheat Death
. His selected writings,
Gray's Anatomy
, was published in 2009.
