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310:"the most remarkable of her books. It stars her daughter, Chloe, who steers Diski into finding out what became of her mother, with whom relations had been severed for decades. The narrative alternates startlingly between a trip to the frozen south and this search—Diski's reluctant advance towards
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Diski was a troubled teenager from a difficult, fractured home. Her parents were working-class Jewish immigrants to London. Her father, James
Simmonds (born Israel Zimmerman), made his living on the black market. He deserted the family when Diski was aged six. This caused her mother, Rene (born
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comments that "Antarctica is not so much a destination as a symptom in this intense, disturbing memoir of a wickedly unpleasant childhood." Diski likens the bleak whiteness of the icescape to the safety of the unbroken whiteness of the psychiatric hospital of her depressed youth. In her
331:, admires Diski as "one of the language's great, if under-appreciated, stylists", in this case where "her honest, direct and intelligent prose has produced an honest, direct and intelligent look at relations between ourselves and the animal world."
268:, asserting that "On the basis that no means no, I was raped several times by men who arrived in my bed and wouldn't take no for an answer". In the book, Diski returns repeatedly to the question of how far the cult of the self in the
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She married Roger Marks in 1976, and they jointly chose the name Diski. Their daughter Chloe was born in 1977. The couple separated in 1981 and divorced. Her later partner until the end of her life,
256:, buying clothes, going to movies, dropping out, reading, taking drugs, spending time in mental hospitals, demonstrating, having sex, teaching". She also described the decade's pervasive
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220:, provides a unique take on even the most distressing material. Compared at times with her mentor Lessing as both were concerned with the thinking woman, Diski was called a post-
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240:, published in England in 1995, was described as being about "pleasure, the writing life, the difficulties of family life, and the rules governing femininity."
342:, was published shortly before her death in 2016. In it, she "elegant" takes a tour of her life, knowing she was soon to die of an aggressive and inoperable
389:
In June 2014, Diski was told that she had at best another three years to live. In
September 2014, she announced that she had been diagnosed with inoperable
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Rachel Rayner), to have a nervous breakdown, and Diski was then put into foster care. Her father came back, but left permanently when she was aged eleven.
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Diski spent much of her youth as a psychiatric inpatient or outpatient. At the same time, she immersed herself deeply in the culture of the 60s, from the
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346:. She rejects the usual "cancer clichés", instead going back to her time with Lessing, meeting other famous literary figures including
321:, examines the ambiguous status of pet animals in Western society, at once sentimentalised and brutalised, or all too often abandoned.
119:; 8 July 1947 – 28 April 2016) was an English writer. She had a troubled childhood, but was taken in and mentored by the novelist
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reviewer sums up the book as "Sometimes rueful, often oblique, but provocative and highly readable."
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974:"Roger Diski: Social entrepreneur who championed sustainable tourism to post-conflict countries"
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and non-fiction articles, reviews and books. Many of her early books tackle themes such as
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for her abiding distrust of logical systems of thought, whether postmodern or not.
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Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and
Smoking around America With Interruptions
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Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and
Smoking around America With Interruptions
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Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and
Smoking around America With Interruptions
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Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and
Smoking around America With Interruptions
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was about a sadomasochistic affair. Her only collection of short stories,
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include articles and essays written for the publication. She won the 2003
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123:; she lived in Lessing's house for four years. Diski was educated at
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1072:"Author Jenny Diski, diagnosed with inoperable cancer, dies aged 68"
1019:"Jenny Diski, Author Who Wrote of Madness and Isolation, Dies at 68"
276:, greed and self-interest. She concludes that, in the words of
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127:, and worked as a teacher during the 1970s and early 1980s.
919:"What I Don't Know About Animals by Jenny Diski – review"
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208:and madness. Some of her later writings, such as
196:Over the decades, Diski was a prolific writer of
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824:Stoner, Rebecca. "Jenny Diski's Curious Women".
291:ice, also tells much about Diski's early life.
180:. Taken into the London home of the novelist
37:Diski (standing) with her rescuer and mentor
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232:Diski wrote eleven novels. Her first novel
1159:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
571:Why Didn't You Just Do What You Were Told?
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1169:People educated at St Christopher School
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880:(2009) p. 135 and compare p. 87–88.
1189:21st-century English women writers
1179:20th-century English women writers
188:and having her first publication.
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1194:English women non-fiction writers
1045:Jenny Diski (11 September 2014).
1017:William Grimes (28 April 2016).
972:Steve Crawshaw (10 March 2011).
917:Nicholas Lezard (24 July 2012).
601:Katharine Viner (8 March 2011).
678:Kate Kellaway (28 April 2016).
559:What I Don’t Know About Animals
319:What I Don't Know About Animals
1184:21st-century English novelists
1174:20th-century English novelists
1070:Alison Flood (28 April 2016).
771:Contemporary British Novelists
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1154:Environmental fiction writers
996:Giles Harvey (10 June 2015).
946:"In Gratitude by Jenny Diski"
504:Apology for the Woman Writing
414:Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
393:. She died on 28 April 2016.
210:Apology for the Woman Writing
146:Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
1144:British women travel writers
1109:Diski's writings at the LRB
317:Her 2010 non-fiction work,
260:, institutionalised in the
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815:. Published by Ecco (2017)
636:British Council Literature
384:Queens' College, Cambridge
998:"Jenny Diski's End Notes"
212:(about the French writer
125:University College London
30:
798:"Jenny Diski obituary".
773:. Routledge. p. 44.
769:Rennisson, Nick (2005).
325:, reviewing the book in
168:to the Grosvenor Square
1149:English women novelists
1134:Deaths from lung cancer
891:"Skating to Antarctica"
876:Quoted in Jenny Diski,
603:"Obituary: Roger Diski"
547:On Trying to Keep Still
1164:Jewish English writers
1139:English travel writers
1052:London Review of Books
813:The Vanishing Princess
680:"Jenny Diski obituary"
482:(1995) (short stories)
480:The Vanishing Princess
238:The Vanishing Princess
133:London Review of Books
1047:"Memoir: A Diagnosis"
826:The Atlantic Magazine
661:Skating to Antarctica
519:Skating to Antarctica
308:Skating to Antarctica
285:Skating to Antarctica
498:Only Human: A Comedy
278:Charles Shaar Murray
828:. January 25, 2018.
785:(Re-)mapping London
759:(2009) p. 24, 97–98
541:A View from the Bed
537:(2002) (travelogue)
272:gave rise to 1980s
166:Aldermaston marches
142:A View from the Bed
1104:Jenny Diski's blog
1024:The New York Times
1003:The New York Times
802:. April 28, 2016.
492:After These Things
486:The Dream Mistress
468:Happily Ever After
270:permissive society
136:; the collections
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841:(2009) p. 7.
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684:The Guardian
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878:The Sixties
865:The Sixties
852:The Sixties
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757:The Sixties
744:The Sixties
731:The Sixties
718:The Sixties
705:The Sixties
553:The Sixties
513:Non-fiction
456:Like Mother
391:lung cancer
360:R. D. Laing
336:valedictory
250:The Sixties
244:Non-fiction
186:free school
178:R. D. Laing
110:Jenny Diski
98:non-fiction
59:8 July 1947
25:Jenny Diski
1118:Categories
645:26 January
586:References
462:Then Again
449:Rainforest
302:of Diski,
266:casual sex
202:depression
156:Early life
78:Occupation
55:1947-07-08
523:Chapter 1
312:catharsis
289:Antarctic
174:acid rock
957:29 April
930:28 April
902:28 April
689:28 April
338:, book,
300:obituary
264:cult of
192:Writings
117:Simmonds
434:Fiction
380:English
228:Fiction
198:fiction
94:fiction
41:in 1963
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444:(1986)
397:Prizes
364:Kirkus
362:. The
358:, and
344:cancer
306:calls
258:sexism
102:travel
81:Writer
1059:(17).
1030:3 May
529:Don't
424:Works
412:2003
402:2003
254:Beats
138:Don't
115:(née
86:Genre
1032:2016
959:2016
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691:2016
647:2016
416:for
406:for
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