Título: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Autor: Steve Martin
Sinopse: The riveting, mega-bestselling, beloved and highly acclaimed memoir of a man, a vocation, and an era named one of the ten best nonfiction titles of the year by Time and Entertainment Weekly.
In the mid-seventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the story of “why I did stand-up and why I walked away.”
Emmy and Grammy Award–winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, and a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Martin has always been a writer. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written.
At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes.
Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times—the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies.
Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Up is a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time.
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life”, de Steve Martin, publicado pela editora Scribner, em 2008 e com 208 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Scribner
Páginas: 208
Ano: 2008-09-02
Edição: Reprint
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 1416553657
ISBN13: 9781416553656
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Scribner costumam oferecer uma experiência de leitura marcada por narrativas densas e multifacetadas, que transitam entre histórias pessoais intensas e análises históricas detalhadas. As sinopses sugerem um interesse editorial por temas que exploram conflitos humanos profundos, como a luta pela sobrevivência, o impacto da memória, e as complexidades do poder, muitas vezes ambientados em cenários realistas e contemporâneos ou em contextos históricos ricos. O tom varia entre o dramático e o reflexivo, com ritmo que ora se acelera em thrillers e espionagem, ora desacelera em relatos intimistas e ensaios que convidam à reflexão.
