Die Position der Löffel

In the essay collection "The Position of the Spoon," Deborah Levy lends us her perspective. She reflects on her reading biography and the authors who shaped her: Colette, Marguerite Duras, Elizabeth Hardwick, Simone de Beauvoir. At times, she puts on Sigmund Freud's glasses and sees through the neuroses of the guests in a Viennese café: hysteria, Oedipal mother love, dizziness, Sachertorte. She examines artists and artworks: Meret Oppenheim, Lee Miller, Francesca Woodman. She writes an alphabet for the inner voice and one for the death drive, picks wicked flowers in Baudelaire's garden, and follows the white rabbit through a tunnel from Woolwich to Elsewhere. "Is Elsewhere between your ears?"

Poetic, wise, sometimes surreal, and always with an infallible, loving eye for detail. What if it matters whether the spoon points towards the boiled egg or away from it? What do socks and shoes reveal about their wearers? What if it is important whom and what we pay attention to?

"The Position of the Spoon" is simultaneously a collection of short stories, critical theory, poetics, and a personal library tour. Readers familiar with Levy will see familiar things sparkle everywhere, while those new to Levy will discover a new cosmos.