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Walter S. Tevis
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Kentucky, 1957. Après la mort de sa mère, Beth Harmon, neuf ans, est placée dans un orphelinat où l'on donne aux enfants de mystérieuses »vitamines» censées les apaiser. Elle y fait la connaissance d'un vieux gardien passionné d'échecs qui lui en apprend les règles. Beth commence alors à gagner, trop vite, trop facilement. Dans son lit, la nuit, la jeune fille rejoue les parties en regardant le plafond où les pièces se bousculent à un rythme effréné. Plus rien n'arrêtera l'enfant prodige pour conquérir le monde des échecs et devenir une championne. Mais, si Beth prédit sans faute les mouvements sur l'échiquier, son obsession et son addiction la feront trébucher plus d'une fois dans la vie réelle.
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Vingt ans après sa victoire légendaire contre Minnesota Fats, la vie de Fast Eddie est au point mort. Il n'a plus joué au billard depuis des années, et il a perdu sa salle au profit de son ex-femme. Il retrouve alors Fats pour une série de matchs d'exhibition, au cours desquels il se fait battre à plate couture. Au bout du rouleau, Eddie fait la connaissances d'une anglaise, Arabella, qui l'encourage à reprendre le billard. Il commence par quelques petites salles où il bat quelques joueurs locaux. Mais, rapidement, les galères le rattrapent. Eddie persévère. Il se relance en championnat, bien décidé à se refaire et à renouer avec son ancienne gloire.
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"Pas de questions, détends-toi". C'est le nouveau mot d'ordre des humains, obsédés par leur confort individuel et leur tranquillité d'esprit, déchargés de tout travail par les robots.
Livres, films et sentiments sont interdits depuis des générations. Hommes et femmes se laissent ainsi vivre en ingurgitant les tranquillisants fournis par le gouvernement. Jusqu'au jour où Paul, jeune homme solitaire, apprend à lire grâce à un vieil enregistrement. Désorienté, il contacte le plus sophistiqué des robots jamais conçus : Spofforth, qui dirige le monde depuis l'université de New York. Le robot se servira-t-il de cette découverte pour aider l'humanité ou la perdre définitivement ?
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Si tu perds, c'est que tu ne voulais pas vraiment gagner.
Eddie Felson est une énigme. On rapporte des parties de billard extraordinaires, un joueur au talent incroyable. Seulement, personne ne l'a jamais vu tirer. Le bruit court qu'il veut s'attaquer à Chicago, mais ses faits d'armes sont remis en question par Grand John, vétéran de l'académie Bennington. Pour lui, Fast Eddie n'est qu'un arriviste imbu de lui-même, un roublard qui n'a pas la moindre chance contre des légendes comme Minnesota Fats, peut-être moins doué qu'Eddie mais bien plus expérimenté. De toute façon, les arnaques auxquelles se livre Eddie vont forcément lui jouer de mauvais tours. -
Débarquant sur Terre en provenance d'un monde mourant, Newton est chargé d'une mission vitale, longuement préparée. Une série de brevets inspirés par la haute technologie de sa planète d'origine lui permet d'atteindre rapidement son premier objectif : amasser une immense fortune. Mais, obligé de vivre caché, mal adapté à la chaleur et à la forte gravité de la Terre, il souffre bientôt d'un mal-être existentiel bien humain. Plus grave encore, en dépit de sa prudence et de son camouflage, il commence à susciter un peu trop de curiosité. Que veut donc ce milliardaire fantasque et mystérieux ? La situation devient vite inconfortable, car si les humains sont moins avancés que le peuple de Newton, ils sont aussi plus dangereux.
Adapté au cinéma en 1976 avec David Bowie, sous le titre L'Homme qui venait d'ailleurs et à nouveau en série en 2022 par CBS.
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THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH: THE BEST OF THE SF MASTERWORKS - S.F. MASTERWORKS
Walter S. Tevis
- Orion
- 8 Décembre 2022
- 9781399607834
The remarkable novel upon which the stunning cult film was based. ''Beautiful ... The story of an extraterrestrial visitor from another planet is designed mainly to say something about life on this one'' NEW YORK TIMES Thomas Jerome Newton is an extraterrestrial from the planet Anthea, which has been devastated by a series of nuclear wars, and whose inhabitants are twice as intelligent as human beings. When he lands on Earth - in Kentucky, disguised as a human - it''s with the intention of saving his own people from extinction. Newton patents some very advanced Anthean technology, which he uses to amass a fortune. He begins to build a spaceship to help the last 300 Antheans migrate to Earth. Meanwhile, Nathan Bryce, a chemistry professor in Iowa, is intrigued by some of the new products Newton''s company brings to the market, and already suspects Newton of being an alien. As Bryce and the FBI close in, Newton finds his own clarity and sense of purpose diminishing.
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Engaging and fast-paced, this gripping coming-of-age novel of chess, feminism, and addiction speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four. Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, shes competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting.
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From the author of THE HUSTLER, THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT is a modern classic about a troubled chess prodigy and her battle to survive When she is sent to an orphanage at the age of eight, Beth Harmon soon discovers two ways to escape her surroundings, albeit fleetingly: playing chess and taking the little green pills given to her and the other children to keep them subdued. Before long, it becomes apparent that hers is a prodigious talent, and as she progresses to the top of the US chess rankings she is able to forge a new life for herself. But she can never quite overcome her urge to self-destruct . For Beth, there's more at stake than merely winning and losing.
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Au XXVe siècle, l'humanité s'éteint doucement, abreuvée de tranquilisants prescrits en masse par les robots qu'elle a elle-même programmés à cette fin. Le monde repose désormais sur les épaules de Robert Spofforth, l'androïde le plus perfectionné jamais conçu, qui possède des facultés inouïes... sauf, à son grand regret, celle de se suicider. Mais l'humanité moribonde se fend d'un dernier sursaut. Paul Bentley, petit fonctionnaire sans importance, découvre dans les vestiges d'une bibliothèque l'émerveillement de la lecture, depuis longtemps bannie, dont il partagera les joies avec Mary Lou, la jolie rebelle qui refuse ce monde mécanisé.
Un robot capable de souffrir, un couple qui redécouvre l'amour à travers les mots, est-ce là que réside l'ultime espoir de l'homme ?
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The future is a grim place in which the declining human population wanders, drugged and lulled by electronic bliss. It's a world without art, reading and children, a world where people would rather burn themselves alive than endure. Even Spofforth, the most perfect machine ever created, cannot bear it and seeks only that which he cannot have - to cease to be. But there is hope for the future in the passion and joy that a man and woman discover in love and in books, hope even for Spofforth. A haunting novel, reverberating with anguish but also celebrating love and the magic of a dream.
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B>b>Adapated for the screen with Paul Newman, the legendary debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Queen''s Gambit about an ambitious pool shark who discovers what it takes to make the big time/b>/b>br>br>There''s only one thing that matters to Fast Eddie Felson:;to make the big money by beating the best pool players in the country. He''s hustled suckers in one-horse towns, but now he''s ready for prime time--that is, for Chicago, for Benningtons Pool Hall, and for Minnesota Fats. In a match played over an unbroken thirty-six hours, Fats teaches Eddie some things about the game, and about life, that he may not have been ready to learn. It''s not until he meets Bert, a professional gambler who recognizes Eddie''s incredible talent, and Sarah, an alcoholic student who loves him for who he is, that he can put those lessons into a plan of action. And when Eddie is ready to return to Fats in a climactic rematch, winning and losing are given a whole new meaning for him.
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b>b>The sequel to The Hustler sees former champion "Fast" Eddie Felson return to the thrilling world of competitive pool--from the bestselling author of The Queens Gambit. The basis for the famed Martin Scorsese film./b>/b>br>br>b>"Tevis writes about pool with power and poetry and tension.... Grabs the reader and doesn''t let go. You don''t have to appreciate pool to like this book, to appreciate its sense of living on the edge." --Washington Post/b>br>;br>Twenty years have passed since Fast Eddie Felson conquered the underground pool circuit. During that time he married and ran his own pool hall, but having left that all behind hes now badly in need of money, and pool is all he knows. On the beautiful aquamarine waters of the Florida Keys, he ropes his former rival Minnesota Fats into a series of exhibition matches in the hopes of picking up a cable TV deal. But playing the old master, a terrible feeling nags at him that hes sat on his talent and that the best part of him is now gone. And when he vows to get back in the game--seriously, this time--he finds a challenging road ahead, and the only thing standing in his way is himself.br>;
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Qui n'a pas rêvé de retourner un jour au pays natal et qu'est-ce que ce pays sinon le ventre de la mère ? Et que ferais-tu, ô lecteur, si celle-ci te revenait d'entre les morts, jeune, belle et à ta merci, échappant aux inhibitions et aux interdits ? Le thème de l'inceste, traité tantôt avec une audace et un humour iconoclastes, tantôt avec une mélancolie glacée qui débouche sur le fantastique et l'épouvante, est au coeur de ce recueil, kaléidoscope où l'univers de Walter Tevis se brise, se fragmente et se reconstitue sans cesse, étincelant, obscur, effrayant.
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Thomas Jerome Newton is an extraterrestrial from the planet Anthea, which has been devastated by a series of nuclear wars, and whose inhabitants are twice as intelligent as human beings. When he lands on Earth - in Kentucky, disguised as a human - it's with the intention of saving his own people from extinction. Newton patents some very advanced Anthean technology, which he uses to amass a fortune. He begins to build a spaceship to help the last 300 Antheans migrate to Earth. Meanwhile, Nathan Bryce, a chemistry professor in Iowa, is intrigued by some of the new products Newton's company brings to the market, and already suspects Newton of being an alien. As Bryce and the FBI close in, Newton finds his own clarity and sense of purpose diminishing.
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B>Engaging and fast-paced, this gripping coming-of-age novel of chess, feminism, and addiction speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four. Now an acclaimed Netflix series./b>br>br>Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, shes competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting.
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B>From the bestselling author of The Queen''s Gambit, the landmark science fiction novel that inspired the classic 1976 film starring David Bowie and is the basis for a forthcoming Showtime series/b>br>br>A man wanders into town one day seemingly out of nowhere. He starts by peddling valuables just to get by. But he possesses uncanny scientific knowledge, which he uses to develop technologies of a marvelous nature. In time he builds a corporate empire that propels him to unimaginable wealth--but to what end? His rapid ascent to the highest levels of success is remarkable, but the vision of his enterprise begins to falter as he succumbs to afflictions that feel all-too-human, and the true purpose of his presence here on earth is in grave danger of being abandoned.
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