Robert Dessaix Libri

Turgenev (1818-1883) was one of Russia's most famous writers, friend of Flaubert, Dostoyevsky and Henry James. Turgenev's private life was, perhaps, as remarkable as his public. For forty years he was passionately devoted to Pauline Viardot, a singer, following her and her husband around Europe. Yet their relationship was completely chaste - both had affairs with other people - and at various stages Turgenev lived amicably next door or upstairs from the Viardots. In fact, he described M Viardot as one of his dearest friends. What, then, did Turgenev mean by the word 'love'? Robert Dessaix learned Russian as a young man in the 1960s, and has been reading Turgenev on and off ever since. Over the course of his own forty year relationship, he has come to see Turgenev's life and work as illustrating a turning point in the history of love, as much as the history of Russia - the moment the Romantic became the Modern, the moment love became sex, and sex became a commodity.

'Almost everybody I know has done it at least once. Some of my friends indulge on a regular basis. Women seem especially susceptible to giving it a go. I've been at it since I was at least five. What on earth do we imagine we're doing?' Many of us lack a talent for leisure. We are working longer hours as we consume more than ever before, and as new forms of technology erode the work-life balance. And yet, we often feel that only work can give real meaning to our existence. In a world where time is money, what is the value of walking without purpose, or socialising without networking, or travelling for reasons other than our jobs? Robert Dessaix lays out the dilemma that modern Westerners face, but never in a didactic or dogmatic way. He writes that leisure allows us the masters of our own time. It allows us to freely choose to do something pleasurable, for its own sake or to deepen our sense of who we are as human beings. How can we reclaim our right to 'rest well', and to loaf, groom, nest and play? In his trademark personal and anecdotal style, Robert Dessaix guides us through the history of leisure. As with all of his writing, this book will be full of wise lessons and intellectual games, but above all, it will be a lively and engaging conversation with his readers.