On Not Being Someone Else

On Not Being Someone Else PDF Author: Andrew H. Miller
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674238087
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
A captivating book about the emotional and literary power of the lives we might have lived had our chances or choices been different. We each live one life, formed by paths taken and untaken. Choosing a job, getting married, deciding on a place to live or whether to have children—every decision precludes another. But what if you’d gone the other way? It can be a seductive thought, even a haunting one. Andrew H. Miller illuminates this theme of modern culture: the allure of the alternate self. From Robert Frost to Sharon Olds, Virginia Woolf to Ian McEwan, Jane Hirshfield to Carl Dennis, storytellers of every stripe write of the lives we didn’t have. What forces encourage us to think this way about ourselves, and to identify with fictional and poetic voices speaking from the shadows of what might have been? Not only poets and novelists, but psychologists and philosophers have much to say on this question. Miller finds wisdom in all these sources, revealing the beauty, the power, and the struggle of our unled lives. In an elegant and provocative rumination, he lingers with other selves, listening to what they say. Peering down the path not taken can be frightening, but it has its rewards. On Not Being Someone Else offers the balm that when we confront our imaginary selves, we discover who we are.

On Not Being Someone Else

On Not Being Someone Else PDF Author: Andrew H. Miller
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674238087
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book

Book Description
A captivating book about the emotional and literary power of the lives we might have lived had our chances or choices been different. We each live one life, formed by paths taken and untaken. Choosing a job, getting married, deciding on a place to live or whether to have children—every decision precludes another. But what if you’d gone the other way? It can be a seductive thought, even a haunting one. Andrew H. Miller illuminates this theme of modern culture: the allure of the alternate self. From Robert Frost to Sharon Olds, Virginia Woolf to Ian McEwan, Jane Hirshfield to Carl Dennis, storytellers of every stripe write of the lives we didn’t have. What forces encourage us to think this way about ourselves, and to identify with fictional and poetic voices speaking from the shadows of what might have been? Not only poets and novelists, but psychologists and philosophers have much to say on this question. Miller finds wisdom in all these sources, revealing the beauty, the power, and the struggle of our unled lives. In an elegant and provocative rumination, he lingers with other selves, listening to what they say. Peering down the path not taken can be frightening, but it has its rewards. On Not Being Someone Else offers the balm that when we confront our imaginary selves, we discover who we are.

On Not Being Someone Else

On Not Being Someone Else PDF Author: Andrew H. Miller
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674245180
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
“To be someone—to be anyone—is about...not being someone else. Miller’s amused and inspired book is utterly compelling.” —Adam Phillips “A compendium of expressions of wonder over what might have been...Swept up in our real lives, we quickly forget about the unreal ones. Still, there will be moments when, for good or ill, we feel confronted by our unrealized possibilities.” —New Yorker We live one life, formed by paths taken and untaken. Choosing a job, getting married, deciding on a place to live or whether to have children—every decision precludes another. But what if you’d gone the other way? From Robert Frost to Sharon Olds, Virginia Woolf to Ian McEwan, Jane Hirshfield to Carl Dennis, storytellers of every stripe consider the roads not taken, the lives we haven’t led. What is it that compels us to identify with fictional and poetic voices tantalizing us with the shadows of what might have been? Not only poets and novelists, but psychologists and philosophers have much to say on this question. Miller finds wisdom in all of these, revealing the beauty, the allure, and the danger of sustaining or confronting our unled lives. “Miller is charming company, both humanly and intellectually. He is onto something: the theme of unled lives, and the fascinating idea that fiction intensifies the sense of provisionality that attends all lives. An extremely attractive book.” —James Wood “An expertly curated tour of regret and envy in literature...Miller’s insightful and moving book—both in his own discussion and in the tales he recounts—gently nudges us toward consolation.” —Wall Street Journal “I wish I had written this book...Examining art’s capacity to transfix, multiply, and compress, this book is itself a work of art.” —Times Higher Education

We Were All Someone Else Yesterday

We Were All Someone Else Yesterday PDF Author: Omar Holmon
Publisher: SCB Distributors
ISBN: 1943735832
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
A hybrid text that deals most urgently in the articulation of growth and grief. After the loss of his mother, Omar Holmon re-learns how to live by immersing himself in popular culture, becoming well-versed in using the many modes of pop culture to spell out his emotions. This book is made up of both poems and essays, drenched in both sadness and unmistakable humor. Teeming with references that are touchable, no matter what you do or don’t know, this book feels warm and inviting.

The Marriage of Contraries

The Marriage of Contraries PDF Author: J. L. Wisenthal
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674550858
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
This reading of Bernard Shaw focuses on his habit of seeing the world in terms of contraries, a habit related to his basic rejection of absolutes, his distaste for finality. The author examines nine of Shaw's finest plays: Man and Superman, Major Barbara, John Bull's Other Island, The Doctor's Dilemma, Pygmalion, Misalliance, Heartbreak House, Saint Joan, and Back to Methuselah. The book takes seriously Shaw's claim that all of his characters are "right from their several points of view." We are compelled to respect the qualities and values of opposing and very different characters in these plays, and we also have a sense of their complementary defects. J. L. Wisenthal's commentary sheds light on Shaw's techniques of portrayal as well as his dialectical habit of mind. This finely written essay is for all lovers of Shaw and the theater.

Someone Else's Life

Someone Else's Life PDF Author: Katie Dale
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0857071424
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
How can you face your future when your past it a lie? When Rosie Kenning's mother, Trudie, dies from Huntingdon's disease, her whole world falls apart. Not only does Rosie desperately miss her mum, but now she has to face the fact that she could have inherited the fatal illness herself. Until she discovers that Trudie wasn't her biological mother at all ... Rosie is stunned. Can this be true? Is she grieving for a mother who wasn't even hers to lose? And if Trudie wasn't her mother, whois? But as Rosie delves into her past to discover who she really is, she is faced with a heart-breaking dilemma - to continue living a lie, or to reveal a truth that will shatter the lives of everyone around her...

On Someone Else's Nickel

On Someone Else's Nickel PDF Author: Tim Ryan
Publisher: Radius Book Group+ORM
ISBN: 1682306755
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The legendary commentator recounts his adventuresome life in the ever-changing world of sport broadcasting in this lively memoir: “I couldn’t put it down” (John McEnroe). Tim Ryan is no doubt the only sportscaster who has crash-landed in the Namib desert, been charged by a rhino in Zimbabwe, herded sheep at the beginning of a Winter Olympics telecast, and dodged flying bottles at a professional boxing match. In his new memoir, Ryan recounts all of these tales and more in the personable, trustworthy voice that sports fans will recognize from his countless television appearances. Armchair travelers and sports enthusiasts alike will be taken on a riveting journey as Ryan shares anecdotes from his adventures in broadcasting that span thirty sports in more than twenty countries over fifty years. And while the events themselves are impressive—ten Olympic Games, more than three hundred championship boxing matches, Wimbledon and US Open tennis, World Cup Skiing, just to name a few—it’s the lesser-known stories that happened along the way that really stand out in Ryan’s telling. As he details how he came to call the first Ali-Frazier fight for the Armed Forces Network, or hosted a tennis tournament featuring the McEnroe brothers to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association, Ryan shines a light on sports and the world beyond sports—the world of family, friends, colleagues, and connections that endure when the game has been won and the mic turned off.

When Novels Were Books

When Novels Were Books PDF Author: Jordan Alexander Stein
Publisher:
ISBN: 0674987047
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
The novel was born religious, alongside Protestant texts produced in the same format by the same publishers. Novels borrowed features of these texts but over the years distinguished themselves, becoming the genre we know today. Jordan Alexander Stein traces this history, showing how the physical object of the book shaped the stories it contained.

Someone Else's Shoes

Someone Else's Shoes PDF Author: Ellen Wittlinger
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 1607349957
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Tackling divorce and suicide with a warmth and sensitive humor that refuses to be weighed down, Someone Else's Shoes chronicles a road trip that unites three young people in search of family and acceptance. Fans of Sharon Draper, Jo Knowles and Counting by Sevens will be moved by this tale of what brings us together when things fall apart. Twelve-year-old Izzy, a budding stand-up comic, is already miserable about her father's new marriage and the new baby on the way. Then ten-year-old cousin Oliver and his father, Uncle Henderson, move in with Izzy and her mom because Oliver's mother committed suicide only a few months ago. And to make matters worse, Ben, the rebellious 16-year-old son of Izzy's mother's boyfriend, winds up staying with them, too. But when Uncle Henderson--who has been struggling with depression after his wife's suicide--disappears, Ben, Izzy, and Oliver set aside their differences and hatch a plan to find him. As the threesome travels in search of Henderson, they find a surrogate family in each other.

The Secret History

The Secret History PDF Author: Donna Tartt
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307765695
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 537

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Book Description
A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch. Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality. “A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment.... Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —The New York Times

I Now Pronounce You Someone Else

I Now Pronounce You Someone Else PDF Author: Erin McCahan
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545283132
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
The teen-girl fascination with weddings comes to fiction in this hilarious debut, as 17-year-old Bronwen Oliver plots her escape from her family . . . by marrying into someone else's. Here Comes the Bride -- If She Can Pass Chemistry.Seventeen-yaer-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her cold, manipulative mother, distant stepfather, and good-for-nothing brother: Bronwen must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get back to her real family.Then she meets Jared. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants - and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. When he proposes fourth months after they meet, she says yes. But as the wedding day approaches, Bronwen begins to wonder if Jared is truly what she needs. And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do?