Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Cultural Amnesia
- Notes in the Margin of My Time
- Narrated by: Clive James
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Cultural Amnesia
Buy Now for £9.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
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.
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)
More from the same
What listeners say about Cultural Amnesia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- CD
- 28-05-22
Great for an easy listen.
I’ve always liked Clive James’s work. However, I did find me stopping this and coming back to it frequently.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Stevie Bach
- 06-01-19
Always interesting.
Interesting and thought provoking, if a little kind to liberal democracy at the end. Worth reading more than once.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. Sullivan
- 04-03-15
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kevin Viney
- 21-02-21
Superb Clive James
Insightful, intelligent and erudite. The world is the poorer fir the passing if Clive James. The only thing not to like about thjs is that its a heavily abridged version of a much longer and mire comprehensive book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Ruta Kasinskaite
- 04-08-20
Too short
Great book by great narrator,. Regretably, it is abridged, which i did not notice before purchasing. Nevermind, i have print copy and i can't believe it has been on my shelf untouched since 2008.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tina Baxter
- 28-04-23
Journey through great minds!
What a listen! Took a while but Mr James has made me very keen to follow up some of the men and women discussed.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- LMC
- 15-03-24
Clive James at his best
Cultural Amnesia sees Clive James review the humanities of the 20th century through profiles of some of its most influential figures. The audiobook edition focuses on individuals whose force was felt during the first half of the century. There are villains as well as heroes, and the twin horrors of Nazism and Communism are never far from the discussion. In this audiobook we encounter Clive James at his best. Sadly underappreciated as a serious critic, James is too funny for his own good. His wit and intelligence combine in this volume to produce a clear-eyed, deeply felt analysis of the cultural project and why it does and does not flourish. His narration is, of course, flawless. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Tom
- 02-09-08
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jo Herlihy
- 09-01-16
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- robmunro
- 21-12-20
brilliant stuff from Clive
wonderful, insightful and very well told. Clive was a class act. Nail a head writing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!