{"product_id":"this-exquisite-loneliness-isbn-9780593492512","title":"This Exquisite Loneliness","description":"\u003cb\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"...Rich and sensitive.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Loneliness is everywhere these days. But this book will chase some of it away, and maybe replace it with connection.” —Patton Oswalt, Emmy and Grammy winning comic\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA examination of the life and work of six brilliant minds of the twentieth century, intent on answering the question “What can be done not despite but \u003ci\u003ebecause of\u003c\/i\u003e loneliness?”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt an unprecedented rate, loneliness is moving around the globe—from self-isolating technology and political division to community decay and social fragmentation—and yet it is not a feeling to which we readily admit. It is stigmatized, freighted with shame and fear, and easy to dismiss as mere emotional neediness. But what if instead of shying away from loneliness, we embraced it as something we can learn from and as something that will draw us closer to one another?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness\u003c\/i\u003e, Richard Deming turns an eye toward that unwelcome feeling, both in his own experiences and the lives of six groundbreaking figures, to find the context of loneliness and to see what some people have done to navigate this profound sense of discomfort. Within the back stories to Melanie Klein’s contributions to psychoanalysis, Zora Neale Hurston’s literary and ethnographic writing, the philosophical essays of Walter Benjamin, Walker Evans’s photography of urban alienation, Egon Schiele’s revolutionary artwork and Rod Serling’s uncanny narratives in \u003ci\u003eThe Twilight Zone\u003c\/i\u003e, Deming explores how loneliness has served as fuel for an intense creative desire that has forged some of the most original and innovative art and writing of the twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis singular meditation on loneliness reveals how we might transform the pain of emotional isolation and become more connected to others and more at home with our often unquiet selves.One of The Next Big Idea Club's top psychology books of 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"...Rich and sensitive...[Deming's] ability to limn loneliness and isolation, and trace the ways in which his six subjects explored them, is one that Mr. Deming comes by honestly.\" \u003cb\u003e—The Wall Street Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Insightful in its reflections, keen readers will find much to contemplate.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A message in a bottle to the \u003ci\u003etristes\u003c\/i\u003e and isolatos and lonelyhearts of the world. [Deming] is trying to write himself out of isolation, and in doing so, he is offering readers the gift of connection…Brave and intelligent.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe American Scholar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“. . . inspired meditations . . . The lucid prose is matched by the depth of insight . . . Profound and often achingly beautiful, this makes for great company.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is an uplifting book that provides a blueprint on how to manage such a common yet challenging emotion, and Deming’s personal experiences adds necessary heft to the text. The author charts a navigable course for embracing one of the most painful and universal human emotions.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness,\u003c\/i\u003e poet and critic Richard Deming pens an arresting and piercing analysis of the experience of profound aloneness and isolation from others.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Portland Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It is easy to make loneliness poignant and moving now. What is striking about Richard Deming’s remarkable book is that he has managed to make loneliness interesting, something that we might now begin to have real conversations about. The powerful and devastating personal experiences recounted here, woven into the lives of figures like Walter Benjamin, Melanie Klein, and Zora Neale Hurston, among others, make \u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness\u003c\/i\u003e an essential contemporary book.”\u003cb\u003e—Adam Phillips, author of \u003ci\u003eOn Getting Better\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Loneliness is everywhere these days. But this book will chase some of it away, and maybe replace it with connection.” \u003cb\u003e– Patton Oswalt, Award-winning comedian, writer, actor\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Beyond biography and cultural study, \u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness\u003c\/i\u003e is a book that gives rich voice to both the agony and occasional joy of a unique facet of the human experience. Insightful in its reflections, keen readers will find much to contemplate.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e-- Booklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautifully written, informative, intimate, and insightful meditation about working with loneliness, a central and intrinsic feature of human existence, and not through it.” \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e-- Psychology Today\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness\u003c\/i\u003e is a transformative book for understanding this moment of collective isolation. Through his sharp-edged personal reflections, Deming interrogates powerfully and openly his own sense of aloneness as he weaves his discoveries with fellow writers, artists, and thinkers from Walter Benjamin to Zora Neale Hurston. What can be a harrowing condition of disconnection becomes an opportunity for blazing revelations, an invitation to bring our interior and exterior landscapes together through acts of courage, large and small, that define our humanity. Through Deming’s brave and searing prose, \u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness\u003c\/i\u003e builds an eloquent case for staying with the discomfort as darkness becomes the passageway toward illumination.”\u003cb\u003e—Terry Tempest Williams, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Moon Is Behind Us\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In \u003ci\u003eThis Exquisite Loneliness, \u003c\/i\u003eRichard Deming explores his life and major influences, and finds a vocabulary for aestheticizing loneliness, ultimately finding beauty, meaning, and transcendence in the inherent solitude of the human experience.\" \u003cb\u003e- Gregory Crewdson, artist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Richard Deming’s mesmerizing exploration of loneliness in its full range of forms—from torment to solace to inspiration, as manifested in the lives of variously brilliant people—is so nuanced, so insightful, so gorgeously written that I found myself underlining passages on nearly every page.  It’s unlike any other book I’ve read, which is high praise indeed.”\u003cb\u003e – \u003cb\u003eMichael Cunningham, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hours\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eRichard Deming\u003c\/b\u003e is an award-winning poet and critic, whose work explores the intersections of literature, philosophy, and visual culture. He is the author of five books, including\u003ci\u003e Day for Night\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eArt of the Ordinary\u003c\/i\u003e. He teaches at Yale University, where he is the director of Creative Writing.","brand":"Viking","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302321541349,"sku":"NP9780593492512","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593492512.jpg?v=1767742477","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/this-exquisite-loneliness-isbn-9780593492512","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}