Desirable Body (World Republic of Letters (Yale))

Desirable Body (World Republic of Letters (Yale))

by Alyson Waters (Author), Alyson Waters (Author), Hubert Haddad (Author)

Synopsis

A medical mystery/fantasy/love story that delves deeply into the nature of consciousness while raising many of the ethical and existential issues facing scientists today

A contemporary Frankenstein that defies expectations, this is a thrilling novel, couched in luminous, captivating prose about a journalist, C dric Allyn-Weberson, who suffers a horrific accident, paralyzing him from the neck down. An ideal candidate for a body transplant, C dric survives the surgery but has both physical and existential trouble with his recovery and adaptation: encountering his lover with a new body, discovering the life history of his donor, and attempting to understand the mind-body relationship as he lives it.

Haddad explores the confusion and insignificance of a single consciousness before experience and identity: What is a head without a body? What or who is a lover with another's body? The gruesome transplant (detailed in a manner that highlights the author's own diligent research and comprehension) parallels other ways humanity mutates nature globally; the novel is a provocative and timely allegory--a work of dystopian fantasy.

$16.45

Quantity

6 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 232
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 02 Oct 2018

ISBN 10: 0300224362
ISBN 13: 9780300224368

Media Reviews
[A] sharp and provocative novel . . . Haddad's fabulously imagined, deeply intelligent, and vividly realized modern parable--complete with moments of true horror--sizzles as it grapples with the question of what makes a self, and if it's ever possible to separate soul from flesh. --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
This novel raises terribly timely ethical and existential questions in an atmosphere of ceaseless suspense. --M moire des Arts on the French edition of Desirable Body
Hubert Haddad's limpid and realistic prose is captivating. --Terra Eco on the French edition of Desirable Body
In book after book, Hubert Haddad proves the seriousness and importance of his work. -- Yves Viollier, La vie on the French edition of Desirable Body
Once again [Hubert Haddad] confirms the multifaceted dimension of his talent in this mesmerizing tale where the unimaginable is imagined and the inconceivable is conceived. --La croix on the French edition of Desirable Body
Desirable Body is as surprising as it is masterful. --La Montagne on the French edition of Desirable Body
Author Bio
Hubert Haddad is a French author born in Tunisia--a novelist, an art historian, a playwright, and an essayist. Alyson Waters is an award-winning translator, the managing editor of Yale French Studies, and a senior lecturer in the department of French at Yale University.