The Cost of Living
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Summary
Named one of the Guardian's "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" and winner of the 2020 Prix Femina étranger.
"Life falls apart. We try to get a grip. But then we find that we don't want to get a grip..."
How much must a woman pay to break old boundaries and secure a small role for herself in a world that works against her? This is the story of every woman in history—women who created a home with their love and labor, only to meet everyone's needs but their own.
In this short, sensuous, and contentious work of nonfiction, Levy candidly revisits the darkest hours of her life—the collapse of her marriage and the death of her mother—and asks what makes a meaningful, valuable, and pleasurable life for a woman.
Drawing on artists and thinkers such as Simone de Beauvoir, James Baldwin, Elena Ferrante, Marguerite Duras, David Lynch, and Emily Dickinson, she sketches the contours of women's ultimate freedom. Praised by Yiyun Li and Jeanette Winterson, and a bedside book of Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in women's writing, autobiography, and intellectual essays
- People in life transitions (midlife, relationship changes) thinking about independence and belonging
- Readers who look for universal social issues and philosophical inquiry within personal narrative
- Readers who appreciate concise prose, rich imagery, and writing that fuses literary and intellectual qualities
Not a good fit for
- Readers of traditional biography expecting a linear, complete story
- Readers seeking light entertainment or clear-cut solutions
Reading tips
- You may first read the trilogy's first volume, The Things I Don't Want to Know, to understand the continuity and deepening of the author's thinking.
- Slow your reading pace and savor how the author turns everyday details (a room, a bicycle ride) into existential metaphors.
- As you read, reflect on and compare your own understanding of "home," "independence," and "cost."
About the publisher
Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House is a publisher known for its literary titles, with a catalogue spanning foreign literature, world classics, classical Chinese literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, and mystery and detective fiction. Judging from the more than 1,100 books in the database, the press publishes foreign classics such as Crime and Punishment, Snow Country, The Complete Sherlock Holmes and Letter from an Unknown Woman, as well as Chinese classical and modern literary works including Lu Xun's Wandering and A Madman's Diary and Wu Jingzi's The Scholars. In terms of translators and authors, translations by Cao Guowei and Tan Jinghua appear in its foreign literature titles, and the authors involved include Dostoevsky, Kawabata Yasunari, Conan Doyle and Zweig. Its publishing character lies in introducing Chinese and foreign literary classics side by side, balancing popular and serious works and attending to both readability and literary value. Public information is limited; the above is a brief overview based solely on the books in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 1 大银
- 2 暴风雨
- 3 渔网
- 4 生活在黄色中
- 5 重力
- 6 人体电流
- 7 漆黑而发蓝的暗
- 8 共和国
- 9 黑夜漫游
- 10 我在X标记处
- 11 屋子里的脚步声
- 12 一切的开端
- 13 银河
- 14 佳音
FAQ
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About the author
Deborah Levy is an author known for her work in foreign literature and literary nonfiction, and her books have been introduced to Chinese readers through translation. Four of her titles are included here: the three-volume "Female Coming-of-Age Trilogy," The Cost of Living, Things I Don't Want to Know: On Women's Writing, and The House of My Own. These titles themselves suggest her sustained attention to women's experience, the act of writing, and everyday life. As for publicly available information, biographical details about the author are very limited, with no clear record of her nationality, dates of birth and death, or educational background, so this introduction can only proceed by way of her works. Her writing often interweaves personal experience with reflections on women's circumstances; her language is restrained and observant, combining the intimacy of the essay with an examination of the relationship between gender and creation. For readers interested in women's writing and self-narration, Deborah Levy offers a voice worth reading closely.
Wang Rufei currently has limited publicly available information; her nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly documented. Judging from the two works held in the database, she is mainly active in the translation or compilation of foreign literature and documentary writing: one is Deborah Levy: A Trilogy of Female Growth (3 volumes), and the other is The Cost of Living. Both works center on the female writing of the British author Deborah Levy, dealing with women's growth, family relationships, and personal life experience, and carrying a distinctly autobiographical and documentary character. It can therefore be inferred that Wang Rufei's focus is on introducing contemporary English-language women's literature and life writing to Chinese readers, with a style that tends to be plain and faithful to the original, preserving the author's delicate and introspective tone. As more verifiable information is lacking, no further speculation is made here about her personal history or academic background.
