A Previous Life (Another Posthumous) – Edmund White
£18.99
Nofel feiddgar a doniol gan yr awdur Edmund White, sydd wedi derbyn anrhydedd gan y National Book Award, sy’n archwilio polyamory a deurywioldeb, heneiddio a chariad. Mae’r cerddor o Sicily, Ruggero, a’i wraig Americanaidd iau, Constance, yn cytuno i dorri eu distawrwydd priodasol ac ysgrifennu eu Cyffesion. Hyd yn hyn roedd ganddynt waharddiad ar siarad am y gorffennol, gan fod tryloywder wedi dinistrio eu priodasau blaenorol.
Wrth i’r ddau darllen yr atgofion y maent wedi’u hysgrifennu am eu bywydau, mae Constance yn datgelu ei phriodasau lluosog â dynion hŷn, ac mae Ruggero yn manylu ar y perthnasoedd y mae wedi’u cael gyda dynion a menywod ar hyd ei oes – yn bwysicaf oll ei berthynas angerddol â’r awdur Edmund White. Gan ysgubo allan o’r caban sgïo ynysig o’r Swistir lle mae’r cwpl yn darllen i deithio trwy Ewrop a’r Unol Daleithiau, mae nofel newydd White yn gwthio am ddealltwriaeth ehangach o gyfeiriadedd rhywiol ac yn paru hiwmor a gwirionedd i greu ei gymeriadau mwyaf diddorol a chymhleth hyd yn hyn. Fel ym mhob un o nofelau cynharach White, mae hon yn olwg graff, syfrdanol ar harddwch corfforol a’i ddirywiad anochel.
Ond yn y modd newydd arbrofol hwn lle mae’r awdur wedi gosod ei hun yn foel fel cymeriad eilradd-mae White yn archwilio themâu cariad ac oedran trwy lygaid, calonnau a meddyliau niferus. Yn hyfryd, yn amharchus ac yn arbrofol, mae A Previous Life yn profi unwaith eto pam mae White yn cael ei ystyried yn feistr ar lenyddiaeth America.
A daring, category-confounding, and ruthlessly funny novel from National Book Award honored author Edmund White that explores polyamory and bisexuality, ageing and love. Sicilian aristocrat and musician, Ruggero, and his younger American wife, Constance, agree to break their marital silence and write their Confessions. Until now they had a ban on speaking about the past, since transparency had wrecked their previous marriages.
As the two alternate reading the memoirs they’ve written about their lives, Constance reveals her multiple marriages to older men, and Ruggero details the affairs he’s had with men and women across his lifetime-most importantly his passionate affair with the author Edmund White. Sweeping outward from the isolated Swiss ski chalet where the couple reads to travel through Europe and the United States, White’s new novel pushes for a broader understanding of sexual orientation and pairs humor and truth to create his most fascinating and complex characters to date. As in all of White’s earlier novels, this is a searing, scintillating take on physical beauty and its inevitable decline.
But in this experimental new mode-one where the author has laid himself bare as a secondary character-White explores the themes of love and age through numerous eyes, hearts and minds. Delightful, irreverent, and experimental, A Previous Life proves once more why White is considered a master of American literature.
