{"product_id":"9781942134985","title":"Still Life at Eighty","description":"Novelist, critic, essayist, screenwriter, teacher, traveler, and art aficionado, Nicholas Delbanco has here compiled a mosaic of his life as he glances backwards and forwards from the vantage point of his eightieth year. Each home relocation with its inevitable remodeling becomes a metaphor for the reconstruction of the self over his lifetime. In episodic riffs, \u003ci\u003eStill Life at Eighty\u003c\/i\u003e revisits seven houses where Delbanco welcomed a panoply of literati, such as Mary Ruefle, Mary Lee Settle, Mary Robison, John Ashbery, John Cheever, John Irving, and John Updike. Each abode becomes a receptacle of memory, as he recalls his friendships with the likes of James Baldwin, Grace Paley, Frederick Busch, Donald Barthelme, and Russell Banks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eStill Life at Eighty\u003c\/i\u003e is saturated with artistic appreciation, which colors Delbanco’s life from early childhood to his eightieth year. The grandson of collectors (whose paintings were plundered by the Nazis), nephew of a London gallerist, son of an accomplished painter, and a collector himself, Delbanco summons his reminiscences of art, artifacts, and artists as he pivots from a youthful artistic apprenticeship to become a prolific professional writer, sustained, and inspired by his wife of fifty-three years, Elena; his daughters, Francesca and Andrea; and five granddaughters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDelbanco finds solace in the things of this world: a Biedermeier desk, an Ekoi mask, and an instrument case that held the fabled Countess of Stanlein ex-Paganini Stradivarius Violoncello of 1707—all reminders of a treasured past. Together with these cherished artifacts, former homes, and the myriad writers and artists who slip in and out of this erudite memoir, \u003ci\u003eStill Life at Eighty\u003c\/i\u003e makes readers privy not only to Delbanco’s rich experiences, but also to the vast aesthetic wealth of his long life.","brand":"Nicholas Delbanco","offers":[{"title":"Mandel Vilar Press |  Paperback \/ softback | Trade paperback (US) |  2024-09-06","offer_id":45663911706879,"sku":"9781942134985","price":33.5,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/9781942134985_p0_v2_s1200x630.jpg?v=1718385156","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781942134985","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}