Quick Facts
Biography
Sam Taylor (born 1970) is a British author, translator and former pop culture correspondent for The Observer, a job he left in 2001. His first book, The Republic of Trees, was published in 2005 and received critical acclaim. His second novel, The Amnesiac, tells the story of James Purdew, a man obsessed with uncovering the events of three years of his life about which he remembers nothing. Taylor lives in Texas with his family.
The Amnesiac
His 2003 book The Amnesiac includes the fictional main character James Purdew and a character named Tomas Ryala Czech philosopher, playwright and poet, who is described as living from 1900 to 1973 and is famous for his controversial repudiation of the existence of memory, and also for the mysterious manner of his death. It is assumed that he was pupil of a famous Czech pedagogist, philosopher and inventor Jára da Cimrman. Ryal was given an entry at the Encyclopedia Labyrinthus.
Translations
Taylor also works as a translator, from French to English. These are some of the works he has translated:
- HHhH (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2012)
- A Meal in Winter (Un repas en hiver by Hubert Mingarelli) (2012)
- The Victoria System (Hamish Hamilton, 2013)
- The truth about the Harry Quebert affair, (MacLehose Press, 2014)
- Four Soldiers (Quatre Soldats by Hubert Mingarelli) (2018)
- Lullaby (Chanson Douce by Leïla Slimani) (2018)
- Adèle (Dans le jardin de l'ogre by Leïla Slimani) (2019)