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We'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth Finch.
We invite you to take her course in Culture and Civilisation.
She will change the way you see the world.
'The task of the present is to correct our understanding of the past. And that task becomes the more urgent when the past cannot be corrected.'
Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration - always rigorous, always thoughtful. With measured empathy, she guided her students to develop meaningful ideas and to discover their centres of seriousness.
As Neil, a former student, unpacks Elizabeth's notebooks, and remembers her uniquely inquisitive mind, her passion for reason resonates through the years. Her ideas unlock the philosophies of the past, and explore key events that show us how to make sense of our lives today. And underpinning them all is the story of J - Julian the Apostate, her historical soulmate and fellow challenger to the institutional and monotheistic thinking that has always threatened to divide us.
This is more than a novel. It's a loving tribute to philosophy, a careful evaluation of history, an invitation to think for ourselves. It's a moment to reflect and to gently explore our own theories and assumptions. It is truly a balm for our times.
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This book has been printed with two different colour designs, blue and yellow. We are unable to accept requests for a specific cover. The different covers will be assigned to orders at random
About the author
Julian Barnes is the author of thirteen novels, including
The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and
Sunday Times bestsellers
The Noise of Time and
The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and three books of non-fiction, including the
Sunday Times number one bestseller
Levels of Life and
Nothing To Be Frightened Of, which won the 2021 Yasnaya Polyana Prize in Russia. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.
Summary
We'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth Finch. We invite you to take her course in Culture and Civilisation. Her ideas are not to everyone's taste. But she will change the way you see the world. 'The task of the present is to correct our understanding of the past.
Report
[Barnes] is always clever, often original and unusually funny... Elizabeth Finch...offers plenty to chew on...with barely a sentence in it that doesn't have some nutritional value. John Self The Times
