Живой Будда

A feverish classic from one of the modern masters of French prose.

No one can keep up with Pierre Niox, the speediest antiques dealer in Paris, although not necessarily the most competent. As he dashes about at a dizzying pace, his impatience becomes too much to bear for those around him; his manservant, his only friend and even his cat abandon him. He begins to find that while he is racing through life, it is passing him by. However, when he falls in love with the languid, unpunctual Hedwige, the man in a hurry has to learn how to slow down…

DIPLOMAT, WRITER AND POET, traveller and socialite, friend of Proust, Giraudoux and Malraux, Paul Morand was out of the most original writers of the twentieth century. He was French literature's globe-trotter, and his delightful autobiography is far from being yet another account of a writer's life. Instead it is a poetic evocation of certain scenes among Morand's rich and varied encounters and experience, filtered through the one constant in his life — the one place to which he would always return — Venice.

Coco Chanel invited Paul Morand to visit her in St Moritz at the end of the Second World War when he was given the opportunity to write her memoirs; his notes of their conversations were put away in a drawer and only came to light one year after Chanel's death. Through Morand's transcription of their conversations, Chanel tells us about her friendship with Misia Sert, the men in her life - Boy Capel, the Duke of Westminster, artists such as Diaghilev, her philosophy of fashion and the story behind the legendary Number 5 perfume...The memories of Chanel told in her own words provide vivid sketches and portray the strength of Coco's character, leaving us with an extraordinary insight into Chanel the woman and the woman who created Chanel.

Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

Clarissa, Delphine, and Auroraare the titles of three short stories that Paul Morand composed during the First World War and set in London, a city of constant fascination to him. Stylish, poetic, and highly original, these urbane and witty stories boast a foreword by Marcel Proust.