Impossible Loves Essays Erin McNellis 9780983061106 Books
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“Possible loves – are for fools – The wise have – impossible loves,” reads a journal fragment from Christian mystic Simone Weil, whose life and works are examined here amid a seemingly unlikely assortment of topics. An argument for maintaining a reverence for commitment while rejecting a traditional, sentimental embrace of outmoded family structures becomes an inquiry into Weil’s drive toward self-sacrifice. A consideration of what Weil might have had in common with libertine and frequent critic Georges Bataille develops into a discussion of Timothy Treadwell, the tragic, grizzly-bear-enamored subject of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man. Later, delving into the tradition of reticence in American poetry is brought into relief against the author’s own experience at Burning Man, where the beat never stops. Like a long discussion with a sharply intelligent friend, Impossible Loves moves effortlessly from topic to topic without ever losing its focus. “Nearly every paper in my academic career has the secret or not-so-secret message of ‘please, please try to love one another,’ and I think it would not be exaggerating to say that many, if not most, works of art have exactly this message as well,” McNellis writes, admitting in the same essay that “emotions are embarrassing.” Embarrassing, complex, even impossible though it may be, love is still the answer – but that doesn’t make the questions any less interesting.
Impossible Loves Essays Erin McNellis 9780983061106 Books
When I dive into an essay collection, I want three things. First, a mixture of source materials: philosophy, literature, poetry, pop culture. Second, an adventurous spirit -- writing about life, about how to live, without falling into the predictable genre of self-help. Lastly, prose that is vivid and clear.Impossible Loves is all of these. McNellis writes about all sorts of literature, and she's just as comfortable taking a close look at Werner Herzog's film Grizzly Man. Her prose is studded with beautiful sentences, especially when she's summing up a paragraph or thought. She's a poet as well as a critic, and it shows. The ends of her essays are elegant surprises. Instead of exposition, we get narratives, glimpses of her life. Her writing glows with compassion and humor. One essay ends, simply, "Be my contraband."
In the course of a very short book, McNellis covers some of the most important and difficult modern experiments in how to live. She writes about practicing Buddhism in the West. She writes about French mystic Simone Weil, who turned generosity into an entire way of life. She writes about pleasures new and old: concerts, festivals, eroticism, Nature. The book challenges convention and conformity, but McNellis is surprisingly pragmatic and reflective in the midst of passionate rebellion.
Full disclosure: this book emerged from a series of conversations across a range of blogs, mostly maintained by people studying English and Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. I was one of those bloggers, and McNellis is a friend of mine. Nonetheless, I would have loved this book if I'd found it on a deserted park bench. This is not me saying I agree with all of its ideas or literary selections. I don't, as you will see for yourself if you end up reading the original blog archives. Rather, I enjoyed Impossible Loves as literary criticism and serious philosophy...and also as an idealist's journal, chronicling paths we've only begun, as a society, to explore.
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Impossible Loves Essays Erin McNellis 9780983061106 Books Reviews
McNellis writes about thought-provoking philosophical matters in a down-to-earth way. Impossible Loves tackles complex subjects and strikes deep, poetic chords without ever becoming too wordy or inaccessible. I read this book aloud on a car trip and, although everyone in the car came from different backgrounds and had a different take on the book's message, we all found that the essays resonated with our understanding of the human condition. I highly recommend it.
I'll be honest I'm a friend of the author, and I bought this book for solidarity's sake, as one does. As someone who hasn't opened a book of poetry since leaving high school, I fully expected not to understand or appreciate a single thing in the book. But the clarity of McNellis's prose drew me in, and the why-didn't-I-think-of-that insights kept me reading. At the end, I wanted more. Hopefully, there will be.
Incisive essays
When I dive into an essay collection, I want three things. First, a mixture of source materials philosophy, literature, poetry, pop culture. Second, an adventurous spirit -- writing about life, about how to live, without falling into the predictable genre of self-help. Lastly, prose that is vivid and clear.
Impossible Loves is all of these. McNellis writes about all sorts of literature, and she's just as comfortable taking a close look at Werner Herzog's film Grizzly Man. Her prose is studded with beautiful sentences, especially when she's summing up a paragraph or thought. She's a poet as well as a critic, and it shows. The ends of her essays are elegant surprises. Instead of exposition, we get narratives, glimpses of her life. Her writing glows with compassion and humor. One essay ends, simply, "Be my contraband."
In the course of a very short book, McNellis covers some of the most important and difficult modern experiments in how to live. She writes about practicing Buddhism in the West. She writes about French mystic Simone Weil, who turned generosity into an entire way of life. She writes about pleasures new and old concerts, festivals, eroticism, Nature. The book challenges convention and conformity, but McNellis is surprisingly pragmatic and reflective in the midst of passionate rebellion.
Full disclosure this book emerged from a series of conversations across a range of blogs, mostly maintained by people studying English and Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. I was one of those bloggers, and McNellis is a friend of mine. Nonetheless, I would have loved this book if I'd found it on a deserted park bench. This is not me saying I agree with all of its ideas or literary selections. I don't, as you will see for yourself if you end up reading the original blog archives. Rather, I enjoyed Impossible Loves as literary criticism and serious philosophy...and also as an idealist's journal, chronicling paths we've only begun, as a society, to explore.
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