The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings

Description

'Quite possibly the best living writer in Britain' - Daily Telegraph Much attention has been paid to so-called late style - but what about last style? When does last begin? How early is late? When does the end set in? In this endlessly stimulating investigation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last achievements of writers, painters, athletes and musicians who've mattered to him throughout his life. With a playful charm and penetrating intelligence, he examines Friedrich Nietzsche's breakdown in Turin, Bob Dylan's reinventions of old songs, J.W. Turner's paintings of abstracted light, John Coltrane's cosmic melodies, Jean Rhys's return from the dead (while still alive) and Beethoven's final quartets - and considers the intensifications and modifications of experience that come when an ending is within sight. Oh, and there's stuff about Roger Federer and tennis too. This book on last things - written while life as we know it seemed to be coming to an end - is also about how to go on living with art and beauty, on the entrancing effect and sudden illumination that an Art Pepper solo or an Annie Dillard reflection can engender in even the most jaded sensibilities. Blending criticism, memoir and repartee into something entirely new, The Last Days of Roger Federer is a summation of Dyer's passions and the perfect introduction to his sly and joyous work.

Geoff Dyer is an award-winning author of ten non-fiction books and four novels, including Out of Sheer Rage, Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It, Zona and, most recently, See/Saw. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, Dyer lives in Los Angeles, where he is Writer in Residence at the University of Southern California. His books have been translated into twenty-four languages.

'Tennis, jazz, Dylan, movies, TV, drugs, Nietzsche, Beethoven. So, why am I laughing? Because Geoff Dyer once again melds commentary and observation with intellect and wit. Bouncing between criticism and memoir, Dyer is one of the few writers whose paragraphs I can immediately reread and get more from. The twists, turns, and delights abound, and when you finally put the book down you think, "Oh, yes, I've always been this smart, haven't I?"' - STEVE MARTIN 'Who can make the world new again like Geoff Dyer? For the low, low price of a book, he will rearrange the art on the walls of your memory so that you might see it again, as if for the first time. The Last Days of Roger Federer is an inspired cultural and personal meditation as well as an unsurprising delight. To read it is to feel relief that, despite Dyer's contention that his life's theme is 'giving up', he hasn't' - SLOANE CROSLEY 'A wonderfully original writer. Here [Dyer] uses the last days of Roger Federer's tennis career as a jumping-off point for an examination of late style and last works, ranging from JMW Turner and Jean Rhys to Bob Dylan and John Coltrane' - The Times, 2022 Highlights Praise for Geoff Dyer: 'Quite possibly the best living writer in Britain' - Daily Telegraph 'A national treasure' - ZADIE SMITH 'Brilliant . . . Dyer's eyes miss nothing' - Observer