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Vendor
Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
Original language
English

NIGHT THOUGHTS

Wallace Shawn

Although he is guided and inspired by the people he respects, and despite the insufficiency of his knowledge and experience—an insufficiency shared by most (or all) other humans, Wallace Shawn can't see any real alternative to trying to figure out his own answers to the most essential questions about the world he lives in.

Having recently passed the age of seventy, before which he found it difficult to piece together more than a few fragments of understanding, Shawn would like to pass on anything he's learned before death or dementia close down the brief window available to him, but he may not be ready yet.

Wallace Shawn is an Obie Award-winning playwright and a noted stage and screen actor (Star Trek, Gossip Girl, The Princess Bride, Toy Story). His plays The Designated Mourner and Marie and Bruce have recently been produced as films. He is co-author of the movie My Dinner with Andre and author of the plays The Fever, The Designated Mourner, Aunt Dan and Lemon, and Grasses of a Thousand Colors. His book Essays was published by Haymarket Books. His play Evening at the Talk House premiered at Socialism 2014.

Nachtgedanken
Deutsch von Joachim Kalka
[ TPB Alexander Verlag 03/2020]
Available products
Book

Published 2017-06-01 by Haymarket Books

Comments

Lovely, hilarious and seriously thought-provoking. -- Toni Morrison (about the 2009 book "Essays")

It''s a treat to hear [Shaun] speak his curious mind. (about the 2009 book "Essays")

With impeccable logic, [Shawn] gently, but lethally, skewers the complacency of the lucky while highlighting the plight of the less fortunate, including the Muslims living in the slums of European cities, the maid of a wealthy friend, and a boy at a dance who shoots someone flirting with his girlfriend. (starred review) Read more...

A compelling diagnosis of the world's injustice but also a very personal response to that injustice. Read more...

Wallace Shawn's essays are both powerful and riveting. To have such a gentle and incisive soul willing to say what others may be afraid to is considerably refreshing. -- Michael Moore (about the 2009 book "Essays")

[L]ike riffs of free-form jazz. Read more...

Shawn has a way of pulling the reader into conversation, making the experience of Night Thoughts feel like more than moving through an extended essay by an important American playwright and actor. Somewhere, as one reads it, the feeling of friendship appears, as if Shawn has known you for years, and now, late in his life, he's decided to tell you what it's all about. Read more...