'Jean Frémon is a wholly singular artist, a writer who lives in the radiant zone where poetry, philosophy and storytelling meet.'
— Paul Auster

PORTRAIT TALES
Translated and prefaced by John Taylor
Original soft back on uncoated paper, French reverse flaps, lilac endpapers
200 x 120mm, 120 pages, RRP £11.99
First English-language edition, 2023

‘As far back as Plotinus, who warned against that ugly custom of leaving an image of one’s appearance behind us, we have ceaselessly given ourselves over to the urge to parry death with the image.’ - Jean Frémon

NATIVITY
Translated by Cole Swensen (2020)
Includes five gouache drawings by Louise Bourgeois
Original softback on uncoated paper, French reverse flaps, lilac endpapers
120 x 117 mm, 48 pages, RRP £10.99
2nd edition published in 2023

‘Frémon’s decision to focus on a painter and his mission brings something very personal to the history encompassed within this short essay (...) [t]he five paintings by Bourgeois are made up of red brushstrokes, and depict the more human side of the Christmas story: a child swelling in the womb, a birth, a hungry newborn (…) The reflections are compelling and lucidly composed; in contrast the representations offered by Bourgeois are carnal, showing that for all the divine wonder of the Nativity, it is also the story of a first-time mother giving birth in extraordinary – and probably terrifying – circumstances.’
— Helen Vassalo, Translating Women

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