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(Paperback, Main - Canons)

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Description

Condemned to shoulder the world forever by the gods he dared defy, freedom seems unattainable to Atlas. But then he receives an unexpected visit from Heracles, the one man strong enough to share the burden . . .

Jeanette Winterson's retelling of the myth of Atlas and Heracles asks difficult and eternal questions about the nature of choice and coercion. Visionary and inventive, Weight turns the familiar on its head to show us ourselves in a new light.

Reviews

Playful, expansive and full of heart * * The Times * *
A touching meditation on the difficult journey to self-knowledge, and also extremely funny, communicating verve and wit * * Guardian * *
Profound and provocative * * Daily Mail * *
Inspired by a Titan, [Winterson] begins appropriately on a titanic scale . . . bringing her musings home to the human scale * * Sunday Times * *
Winterson's embrace of the mythic landscape is evident in her rich imagery . . . Dazzling * * New York Times * *
A masterpiece * * Scotland on Sunday * *
Alternatively earthy and mythopoetic, funny, meditative and personal . . . Winterson artfully illustrates the interplay of free will and destiny, desire and responsibility * * Independent on Sunday * *
Weight is a masterpiece . . . Rewrites and reconfirms what fiction is, was, and might become * * Scotland on Sunday * *
Transcendent . . . It's not the weight of her intellect that strikes you but its lightness, an unembarrassed vigour that seems to lead it along a tightrope of sanity * * Herald * *
Winterson's precise prose explores issues of loneliness, responsibility and freedom with clarity and vision, offering the gift of seeing things afresh * * The Good Book Guide * *

Author Bio

Jeanette Winterson's first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel. Since then she has published many other novels, including The Passion, Written on the Body and The PowerBook, a collection of short stories, a book of essays, and children's picture books. She has adapted her work for TV, film and stage. Her books are published in 32 countries.