{"product_id":"here-and-now-isbn-9780143124917","title":"Here and Now","description":"\u003cb\u003e“[A] civilized discourse between two cultivated and sophisticated men. . . . It’s a pleasure to be in their company.”—Michael Dirda, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“An extended meditation on the processes of friendship, [\u003ci\u003eHere and Now\u003c\/i\u003e] has something substantive to offer.”—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter a meeting at an Australian literary festival brought them together in 2008, novelists Paul Auster and J. M. Coetzee began exchanging letters on a regular basis with the hope they might “strike sparks off each other.\" \u003ci\u003eHere and Now \u003c\/i\u003eis the result: a three-year epistolary dialogue that touches on nearly every subject from sports to fatherhood, literature to film, philosophy to politics, from the financial crisis to art, death, marriage, friendship, and love. Their high-spirited and luminous correspondence offers an intimate and often amusing portrait of these two men as they explore the complexities of the here and now and reveal their delight in each other’s friendship on every page.“[A] civilized discourse between two cultivated and sophisticated men . . . A pleasure to be in their company.”\u003cb\u003e—Michael Dirda, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “These two famous writers might seem at first an unlikely pairing . . . [but] as a series of collaborative inquiries and an extended meditation on the processes of friendship, the book has something substantive to offer.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e”\u003ci\u003eHere and Now\u003c\/i\u003e is akin to eavesdropping on a dazzling, extended dinner conversation between two intelligent and substantive minds. . . . A very appealing, human portrait of these two writers.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBookpage \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“A genial, often riveting exchange. Amiable and revealing missives from two remarkable minds.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A striking portrait of two great friends . . . the result of Auster and Coetzee’s exchange is nothing short of witty, sharp and thought-provoking, and offers a fascinating look into the minds of two of the twentieth century’s greatest writers.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMalibu Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for J. M. Coetzee\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Many, this reviewer among them, would consider [Coetzee] the greatest living novelist in English.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Coetzee may turn out to be one of the last great novelists, exalted by the intensity of his self-awareness and his willingness to make his home in a spiritual and intellectual impasse of which few of his contemporaries were even aware.\"\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Nation \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“South Africa’s most brilliant novelist . . . challenges us to doubt our preconceived notions not only of love but of truth itself.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Coetzee’s signature brilliance . . . A mixture of penetrating insight and brittle wit that forces our attention on common terrors we don't want to think about.\"\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Washington Post \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Paul Auster\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A writer of lean, genre-tinged novels whose unaffected prose belies their philosophical complexity . . . He's also one of our most playful novelists, a lover of narrative labyrinths on par with Borges, to whom he has often been compared.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Paul Auster is one of those sages with confounding talent—confounding for one because he’s simply \u003ci\u003ethat good. . . . \u003c\/i\u003eHe belongs among Vonnegut, Roth, and DeLillo.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Auster\u003c\/b\u003e was the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003e4 3 2 1\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSunset Park\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMoon Palace\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe New York Trilogy\u003c\/i\u003e, among many other works. In 2006, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. His other honors include the Prix Médicis étranger for \u003ci\u003eLeviathan\u003c\/i\u003e, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of \u003ci\u003eSmoke\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Prize for \u003ci\u003eBurning Boy\u003c\/i\u003e, and the Carlos Fuentes Prize for his body of work. His novel \u003ci\u003e4 3 2 1\u003c\/i\u003e was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. Paul Auster died in 2024. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJ. M. Coetzee \u003c\/b\u003eis the first author to be awarded the Booker Prize twice. The author of \u003ci\u003eDisgrace\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLife \u0026amp; Times of Michael K\u003c\/i\u003e, among many other works, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. He lives in Adelaide, Australia.","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305287635173,"sku":"NP9780143124917","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780143124917.jpg?v=1767728955","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/here-and-now-isbn-9780143124917","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}