The Position of Spoons: And Other Intimacies

A feast of observations about everything from the particular beauty of lemons on a table, to the allure of Colette, to the streets of Paris, by the inimitable Deborah Levy.

Deborah Levy’s vital literary voice speaks about many things.

On footwear: ＂It has always been very clear to me that people who wear shoes without socks are destined to become my friends and lovers.＂ On public parks: ＂A civic garden square gentles the pace of the city that surrounds it, holding a thought before it scrambles.＂ On Elizabeth Hardwick: ＂She understands what is at stake in literature.＂ On the conclusion of a marriage: ＂It doesn’t take an alien to tell us that when love dies we have to find another way of being alive.＂

Levy shares with us her most tender thoughts as she traces and measures her life against the backdrop of different literary imaginations; each page is a beautiful, questioning composition of the self. The Position of Spoons is full of wisdom and astonishments and brings us into intimate conversation with one of our most insightful, intellectually curious writers.

Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays, and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, broadcast on the BBC, and widely translated. She is the author of several highly praised novels, including The Man Who Saw Everything (long-listed for the Booker Prize), Hot Milk and Swimming Home (both Man Booker Prize finalists), The Unloved, and Billy and Girl; the acclaimed story collection Black Vodka; and a three-part autobiography, Things I Don’t Want to Know, The Cost of Living, and Real Estate. She lives in London and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.