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  • Cultural Amnesia

  • Notes in the Margin of My Time
  • By: Clive James
  • Narrated by: Clive James
  • Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (241 ratings)
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Cultural Amnesia cover art

Cultural Amnesia

By: Clive James
Narrated by: Clive James
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Summary

Abridged for audio. Read by the author, Clive James.

With fascinating essays on towering figures from Anna Akhmatova to Stefan Zweig, via Charles de Gaulle, Hitler, Thomas Mann and Wittgenstein, Cultural Amnesia is one of the crowning achievements in Clive James's illustrious career as a critic.

A comprehensive survey of modern culture, Cultural Amnesia is Clive James' unique take on the places and the faces that shaped the twentieth-century. From Anna Akhmatova to Stefan Zweig, via Charles de Gaulle, Hitler, Thomas Mann and Wittgenstein, this varied and unfailingly absorbing book is both story and history, both public memoir and personal record – and provides an essential field-guide to the vast movements of taste, intellect, politics and delusion that helped to prepare the times we live in now.

©2008 Clive James (P)2008 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic reviews

"Clever, and funny....a wonderful book for a long afternoon in a left-bank cafe, or a transatlantic plane ride." (The Observer)

"On virtually every page, there is an arresting sentence, witty or profound." (Mail on Sunday)

"It's clever, contentious and funny (like its author). His scope is impressive." (Guardian)

What listeners say about Cultural Amnesia

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Another great clearing in the jungle from CJ

Cultural Amnesia is a ?tour de force? in writing terms but more like a ?tour de France? when reading, especially if you try to do the thing in one go. Using Wikipedia as a study aid I felt like I was in the ring with Sonny Liston who by chapter three had me on the canvas. In one of his earlier books, Fame in the 20th century, Clive James gave an excellent outline of how the famous shaped our world. In Cultural Amnesia he has broadened and deepened these ideas. I found it is accessible only in that he uses words I understand but the concepts saw me using a whiteboard and ?post it? notes. His thoughts criss-cross time and space giving a glimpse of James?s lifetimes reading and reasoning. This can be disconcerting if like me you are thinly read and prone to prejudice. However it is so worth persevering as there is much to learn, many laughs and a constant striving for context. In ?Fame? James ends by making the point that we need these people as we need a map, to help find our way, yet all maps are an over simplification. I would argue that we need Clive himself to help us find our way as Cultural Amnesia changes that scale from glimpse to insight. I have listened to and read the book and am changed for the experience. Had there been a T Shirt I?d be wearing it.

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Buy the book instead - don't download from Audible

The download is one continuous file - 6 hours long. No bookmarks or chapters. The book is written in an alphabetical order and allows you to jump to where you need and this is much more useful. While its not a reference book your enjoyment will be enhanced by being able to jump to appropriate sections. The Times has some filmed excerpts of chapters, and worth viewing for a taster.

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31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

excellent narration, good abridgement

I find Clive James' books quite difficult to read. His knowledge is so great and his reading so wide that I think he finds it difficult to judge what to leave out - and hence it is very hard to follow his train of thought as he jumps all over the place, throwing out, as it were, widely drawn allusions and references.

However, when he reads his own stuff, it becomes much clearer to me - dont ask me why. He has an interesting voice, a good conversational style of delivery and his dry humour keeps coming through. It is much easier to get the point.

I agree with the previous reviewer, though, that this is a book to dip into rather than read all the way through. I listened to it over a few weeks a section at a time but you are rather bound by the order of the book in an audio version (defined break points would have made this easier). Best thing is to have the book and the audio - which is the course I've followed.

Overall, I very much enjoyed the audiobook - and it interested me enough to buy the written version which is good stuff too.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Wonderful, but heavily abridged

I loved this so much I instantly bought the hard copy book, just so as to have all that wonderful erudition more immediately to hand. The book is 850 pages or so, and would take at least twice as long to read - this audiobook is missing a lot. I would’ve thought that Audible would’ve made this abridgement much clearer before purchase. Oh well.

Not that any of that is Clive James’s fault. He says himself that he hasn’t read everything, but oh to have read half of his total. It’s his curiosity that shines through - he wants to know more about more subjects and thinkers and writers than I even really knew existed.

But don’t be intimidated: this book is exhilarating precisely BECAUSE he’s read so much. Every essay opens a new door, makes you want to be smarter.

Just, y’know. Read the actual book, rather than the half (or less) that’s here in audio form.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Stunning. Refreshing. Wonderful.

If you are a fan of Clive James you will want this summation of a lifetime's reading and thinking. A brilliant writer who can think outside the box of life, he has the wit, nerve, and genius to understand complex ideas and then pass on his knowledge in a form we ordinary mortals can - sometimes, anyway - understand. He is one of the few writers who can come up with a memorable review, an unforgettable poem, a knockout novel, and a stunning memoir. Which prompted the New Yorker to declare that Clive James is a brilliant bunch of guys. Yes, you can tell, I'm a bit of a CJ worshipper. Every home should have a copy of this extraordinary book, in any format you fancy. But do yourself a favour by buying it in hardback as well. It is going to be handled a lot, and you don't want it to fall to bits at a crucial moment. It is unique and wise in so many areas.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

TOUR DE HORIZON - TOUR DE FORCE

Clive James once complained that he had spent too much time studying at Cambridge while people like Germaine Greer were partying. His time was not wasted... Like his wireless essays on Radio Four his style has a lightness of touch for historical giants and literarati known and unknown. Like harold Bloom he makes you want to read some of the literature referred to or get to know more about some of the topics, such as the Viennese intellectual scene in the 20's and 30's which he covers. Where I am familiar with his subjects he seems to score a bullseye...If he had not wasted so much time on TV he could have done more but perhaps I would not have bothered to listen to this informative and entertaining piece.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A book to go back to many times

What made the experience of listening to Cultural Amnesia the most enjoyable?

Wonderful, an education, illuminating - and I very much enjoyed the reading of this by Clive James. Gave me loads to think about, disagreed with a number of points, but definitely one i'll be returning to...

Any additional comments?

In a book like this, not having only chapter numbers not who the subject of each chapter is, is a problem as this is a book I'd like to return to quite a bit.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Educational

Where does Cultural Amnesia rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Excellent, but to coin a phrase, 'designed to be sipped at rather than gulped.'

Who was your favorite character and why?

Evelyn Waugh's story, because I'd read Brideshead.

Which character – as performed by Clive James – was your favourite?

None that stand out.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A collection of Historical views, pulled together in time.

Any additional comments?

Heavy in places, but well worth reading more than once.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Clive James is an international treasure

A fine collection of essays read by the author. Hearing James deliver his own distinctive sentences in his own distinctive voice brings an already wonderful book even more to life. It will probably be the most entertaining (and possibly the most erudite) book you will listen to all year.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A short history of humanity

James is a reader, a writer and a poet. This book is a reflection over a lifetime of reading by an intelligent, sensitive and humane man. A must read.

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1 person found this helpful