David Shields
Blending confessional criticism and anthropological autobiography, Shields explores the power of literature (from Blaise Pascalâ€™s ,PensÃ©es ,to Maggie Nelsonâ€™s ,Bluets,, Renata Adlerâ€™s ,Speedboat, to Proustâ€™s, Remembrance of Things Past,) to make life survivable, maybe even endurable. Shields evokes his deeply divided personality (his â€œridiculousâ€ ambivalence), his character flaws, his woes, his serious despairs. Books are his life raft, but when they come to feel un-lifelike and archaic, he revels in a new kind of art that is based heavily on quotation and consciousness. And he shares with us a final irony: he wants â€œliterature to assuage human loneliness, but nothing can assuage human loneliness. Literature doesnâ€™t lie about thisâ€“â€“which is what makes it essential.â€
Nonfiction,Writing,Books About Books,Writing,Essays,Autobiography,Memoir,Biography,Language,Writing,Literature,Philosophy,Criticism,Literary Criticism,Biography Memoir
How Literature Saved My Life