Book description
In her extraordinary non-fiction debut, Jacqueline Feldman tells the story of Le Bloc, a legendary squat situated at the far edge of Paris, near where the banlieue begins. Opened in 2012, the squat took in artists and activists as well as immigrants from around the world. They lived and worked within its labyrinthine structure, continually threatened with eviction and existential as well as financial precarity. Over many years Feldman, a reporter from the US, follows a cast of itinerant, displaced characters, tracing the fate of a counterculture under austerity while investigating the trending use of a legal device by which squatters could receive a reprieve from eviction but were reduced in status to property guardians. In the tradition of Walter Benjamin and other chroniclers of Paris, she draws on its revolutionary and bohemian history while sounding issues of the most contemporary urgency about hospitality and refuge, creativity and precarity, ecology and utopia. With gripping candour and journalistic precision, Precarious Lease is a thrilling dramatization of late-stage possibilities for co-existence in the ruins of a capital city.'Rigorous and arresting.... [Feldman] has thought deeply about the ethics of her work and the result is a beautiful and important book which, through its meticulous focus on a self-consciously marginal milieu, strikes at the centre of one of the urgent subjects of our time.'- Max Liu, Financial Times'Precarious Lease is a stunning work of witness. And in the midst of the present inferno, it is precisely the rigorous work of fact-checked nonfiction that so effectively makes plain the head-spinning fictions of real estate and property value.'- Claire Foster, Los Angeles Review of Books 'Jacqueline Feldman's Precarious Lease examines the beginning and the end - in 2013 - of the famous Parisian squat, Le Bloc, thinking through the triumphs and consequences of the unique leniency that Paris had shown towards the preservation of such indeterminate spaces.... Its lease was short but chaotic, resulting in the occupants' eventual eviction; but its death throes bear lasting political and aesthetic echoes in our understanding of human habitation - in all its complex varieties.' - India Lewis, Arts Desk'Feldman's Precarious Lease is marked by erudition, astringence, biting wit, and the perspicacious awe of a seasoned examiner of our time, attributes bound to be hallmarks of her work for years to come. Diving under the rubble of social and class collapse, Feldman deftly maneuvers between investigative reportage and essayist forays while weaving through this tapestry a tone so sharp yet compassionate, so personal, it feels like a friend delivering dire news from the front lines of the world.'- Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous'In Precarious Lease Jacqueline Feldman follows her curiosity about alternate forms of living into the heart of north-east Paris's squat scene, and takes the reader with her, asking fundamental questions about how we live together under late capitalism, and the relationship, in France, between freedom and bureaucracy, marginality and the state. It's completely fascinating, an American in Paris memoir like no other.'- Lauren Elkin, author of Art Monsters'Jacqueline Feldman's Precarious Lease offers an enthralling immersion into the confluence of 2010s-era social and political activism, Parisian and French real estate and the margins of the global artworld. Multimodal in its storytelling, encompassing critical journalism, social history, the precision of documentary writing, and more, Precarious Lease also holds up a mirror to our current capitalist moment and suggests other ways of imagining our world.'- John Keene, author of Counternarratives'To trust a writer's insight, we must first trust their eyes, must be able to see what, how, and as they see. In Precarious Lease, Jacqueline Feldman trains her vision - indeed all her senses - on the striking, insistent particulars of the culture of squatters in Paris. Feldman assuredly, brilliantly, guides us through their unstable circumstances, through their fraught world. At every turn, the urgent, vivid, vitally empathic prose of Precarious Lease is grounded in a sense of our shared, our undeniable humanity. That is where revelation springs from. You heard me right: Jacqueline Feldman's Precarious Lease is a revelation. This is a masterful, elegant, powerful book.' - Richard Deming, author of This Exquisite Loneliness'Destined to become a classic of literary reportage, Precarious Lease: The Paris Document honors the poetry of facts in its vivid, boldly intimate depiction of artists and artists manqué struggling and dreaming in the squat houses of Paris and its peripheries. In its narrative sweep, the photorealism of its details, its sure grasp of cultural and subcultural history, its winsome and confiding tone, and its indelible portraits of eccentrics, rebels, and visionaries, Jacqueline Feldman's deep-hearted and brilliant firsthand account offers us nothing less than utter enchantment.'- Garielle Lutz, author of Worsted'Like the diary of Samuel Pepys, Precarious Lease is not so much reporting or even memoir as full-on history writing. Biased in the most important and necessary ways and at the same time telepathic, translucent, and hard-won, Feldman's attempt at an account will make you rethink citizenship and all the hideous fictions associated with contemporary real estate. It will also remind you of the sacred and anarchic power of description.'- Lucy Ives, author of Life is Everywhere'The authenticity with which [Feldman] renders her subjects on the page creates memorable characters and brings Le Bloc to life as a character in its own right. An atmospheric work of personal reportage that artfully renders the history and lived experience of Parisian squats.'- Kirkus
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Playing a wide variety of audio formats
Works on all devices with iOS 13 and newer
Huge amount of features for a small price
Frequent updates to add new features and improve existing ones
Advanced playback controls
Live sound processing
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice and noise reduction
Translated into more than 20 languages
If you love listening to fiction audiobooks, ListenBook has features to make the process easier.
Edit book data: title, author, cover
Use equalizer to make the sound comfortable for you
Adjust the playback speed
Enjoy dark and light app themes
Supported formats: MP3, M4B, AWB, FLAC, OGG audio files and many more (must be DRM free)
Auto-Bookmarks make it easy to find your place
AirPlay support allows redirection of audio output.
VoiceOver support
Dark mode for night owls
Convenient bookmarking system helps you mark the most important places.
Unlimited bookmarks for each audiobook
Put your own cover on the wager
Share your audiobook with friends
Lock-screen control
Customise app with extensive options
Sleep timer with shake to reset, set custom notification sounds, and a few unique options
Auto rewind depending on paused time, customize rewind times to your liking
Removing background noise from recordings made in classrooms and meetings
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice for a better listening experience