The Light of New York [Hardcover]

Andre Aciman (Author), Jean-Michel Berts (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2007

How to capture the City That Never Sleeps in chilling moments of serenity? Award winning photographer Jean-Michel Berts does just that in this epic visual showpiece of to the world greatest city. At dawn, the streets of New York resonate with a life of its own: muted, subdued, and mysterious. That s precisely the moment in which Berts has elected to capture it.

The City s greatest landmarks and views are captured here like they never have been before, framed by Berts s camera obscura. Buildings, bridges, completely deserted streets, and even its trees and empty flights of stairs take on a poetic, ethereal, almost dream-like quality. Much more than a hymn, this photographic gem is a moving homage to the world greatest city, seen as a virtuoso sculptor s masterpiece. Each of the print is given ample breathing space in a gift-volume whose opulent trim size befits the spectacular quality of the shots.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 131 pages
• Publisher: Assouline (November 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 275940174X
• ISBN-13: 978-2759401741
• Product Dimensions: 13 x 10.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Travel

More About the Author

André Aciman was born in Alexandria, Egypt and is an American memoirist, essayist, novelist, and scholar of seventeenth-century literature. He has also written many essays and reviews on Marcel Proust. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The New Republic, Condé Nast Traveler as well as in many volumes of The Best American Essays.

Aciman grew up in a multilingual and multinational family and attended English-language schools, first in Alexandria and later, after his family moved to Italy in 1965, in Rome. In 1968, Aciman's family moved again, this time to New York City, where he graduated in 1973 from Lehman College. Aciman received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University and, after teaching at Princeton University and Bard College, is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. He is currently chair of the Ph. D. Program in Comparative Literature and founder and director of The Writers' Institute at the Graduate Center. He has also taught creative writing at New York University and Yeshiva University. In 2009, Aciman was also Visiting Distinguished Writer at Wesleyan University.

Aciman is the author of the Whiting Award-winning memoir Out of Egypt (1995), an account of his childhood as a Jew growing up in post-colonial Egypt. His books and essays have been translated in many languages. In addition to Out of Egypt, Aciman has published two other books: False Papers: Essays in Exile and Memory (2001), and most recently a novel entitled Call Me By Your Name (2007), which was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and which won the Lambda Literary Award for Men's Fiction (2008). He also edited Letters of Transit (1999) and The Proust Project (2004) and prefaced Monsieur Proust (2003) and The Light of New York (2007).

His forthcoming novel Eight White Nights (FSG) will be published on February 14, 2010

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stylized New York, December 11, 2007

By 

Kurt Keefner "Happy to be Alive" (Outside Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Light of New York (Hardcover)

This is a collection of moody black and white photographs taken at dawn with a large-format pinhole camera. There are no people or moving cars but lots of rays of light from the rising sun and brooding clouds. The effect is fantastic. Sometimes the photos look like they were executed in charcoal. The details are mostly very crisp even though the palette is dark.

The major landmarks are all present. Two of Mlle Liberty, 3 or 4 of the Empire State Building, a wonderful shot of the Flatiron Building, etc. (Only 1 of the Chrysler Building, however, and not one of Berts's best.) There are some nice shots of Central Park. He likes the Brooklyn Bridge--and he's good at making large objects like bridges and the Empire State Building look massive. The use of black and white and dawn's early light defamiliarizes the postcard icons and restores them to their original majesty. There are also some nice shots of Little Italy and lesser known buildings, too. This is a great book. If you like it you should check out Light of Paris by the same photographer.

I can't resist offering up one more recommendation, this time for a book that's almost the opposite of The Light of New York in its approach but which is still a wonderful and fun look at the Big Apple: Manhattan Lightscape. Its colors are magnificent.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Coffee Table Book, January 2, 2009

By 

Aimee Wenske (Seattle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Light of New York (Hardcover)

I got this book for Christmas and love it. Very possibly the most amazing black and white photographs I have ever seen. Each time I flip through this book I notice more details in the photos that I hadn't noticed before. I recommend this book to anyone, but especially those who love photography and/or New York.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a romantic vision of New York, February 10, 2008

By 

V. Leblanc (Mamaroneck, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Light of New York (Hardcover)

New York City at dusk or dawn with a magical lighting and a unique photo processing that highlight architectural details of iconic features of the city. Manhattan for lovers!