“Like “Tristram Shandy”, this book is a text that begins everywhere, goes everywhere, and carries the reader back to the ground of his own heart. A journey I was delighted to make.”Iain Sinclair

“Vitaliev has finally got around to putting his witty way with a crisis onto the page by explaining- in amusingly circuitous routes- how literature has saved him over the years. Along with Haruki Murakami's running memoir and Martin Amis' experience- it's a memoir, an exercise in attitude and a fascinating window onto the creative process.” Monocle Magazine

"What a brilliant read - I loved the quirky originality of the structure, Vitali’s humanity, and his view of life as a major ongoing dramatic event… Vitaliev is very damn good.” Douglas Kennedy

Vitali Vitaliev is the Ukranian-born cultural commentator and journalist whose life has been spent exploring the curious, the unusual and the plain dotty manifestations of human life around the world. The author of cult classics such as Dreams on Hitler's Couch and Border's Up, Vitaliev has a wry take on the human species as it goes about its daily life. But he is also an imaginative and thoughtful artist, whose perspective has been shaped by his experience growing up in the Soviet Union, from which he was eventually expelled.

Life As A Literary Device is both a summation and a new beginning for Vitaliev - an analysis of how literature has bound his life, and an exploration of how to survive in the modern world.

Praise for Border's Up:

"An ironic and witty commentator on life. He writes with a humanist's appetite." Spectator

"The charm of Michael Palin and the wit of Clive Anderson, this man is adorable." Time Out

"We're both interested in the history of the 20th century, but he's lived it, and I've been a spectator." Clive James

"He has a sharp and sardonic eye; and his observations are informed by his humanity and compassion." Daily Telegraph

Details

• ISBN 9781905636440
• Published November 2009
• Size: Demy hardback
• Pages: 448
• RRP: £16.99

Rights information

• World rights