Bibliograph

Abominations, selected essays from a career of courting self-destruction, Lionel Shriver

Type

Label

Abominations, selected essays from a career of courting self-destruction, Lionel Shriver

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Abominations

Oclc number

1337583233

Responsibility statement

Lionel Shriver

Sub title

selected essays from a career of courting self-destruction

Summary

Novelist, cultural observer, and social satirist Lionel Shriver is among the sharpest talents of our age. A writer who embraces "underexpressed, unpopular or downright dangerous" points of view, she fillets cherished shibboleths and the conformity of thought and attitude that have overtaken us. Bringing together thirty-five works curated from her many columns, features, essays, and op-eds for the likes of The Spectator, The Guardian, The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal, and speeches, reviews, and unpublished pieces, this book reveals Shriver at her most iconoclastic and personal. Relentlessly skeptical, cutting, and contrarian, this collection showcases Shriver's piquant opinions on a wide range of topics, including religion, politics, illness, mortality, family and friends, tennos, gender, immigration, consumerism, health care, and taxes. With her chracteristically frank manner, Shriver shrewdly skewers the concept of language "crimes," while chafing at arbitrary limitations on speech and literature that crimp artistic expression and threaten intellectual freedom. Each essay reflects sentiments that have "brought hell and damnation down on my head," as she cheerfully explains, and have threatened her with "cancellation" more than once. Throughout, Shriver offers insights on her novels and explores the perks and pitfalls of becoming a successful artist. In revisiting old pieces and rejected essays, Shriver updates and expands her thinking. Progressive readers will find plenty to challenge here. But they may find, to their surprise, insights with which they agree

Table Of Contents

Introduction -- Part I: The private sector -- Part II: "What did you do in the war, mommy?" -- Part III: Confessions of an expat -- Part IV: Getting the blood running -- Part V: Against the grain -- Part VI: End papers

Target audience

adult

Classification