1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910796360603321

Autore

Taylor Mark C.

Titolo

Last Works : Lessons in Leaving / / Mark C. Taylor

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, CT : , : Yale University Press, , [2018]

©2018

ISBN

0-300-23142-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (386 pages) : illustrations, photographs

Disciplina

306.38

Soggetti

Retirement - Social aspects

Retirement - Psychological aspects

Retirees - Conduct of life

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Errant Reflections -- 1. Completion Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) -- 2. Immanence Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) -- 3. Waiting Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003) -- 4. Ghosts Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) -- 5. Trembling Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) -- 6. Delirium Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) -- 7. Wavering Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) -- 8. Intensity Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) -- 9. Speed David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) -- 10. Silence Herman Melville (1819-1891) -- 11. Earth Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) -- 12. Works Last Lessons Learned -- Notes -- Credits -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

A powerful consideration of the lessons imparted in the final works of essential writers and philosophers For many today, retirement and the leisure said to accompany it have become vestiges of a slower, long-lost time. In a world where the sense of identity is tied to work and careers, to stop working often is to become nobody. In this deeply perceptive and personal exploration of last works, Mark C. Taylor poignantly explores the final reflections of writers and thinkers from Kierkegaard to David Foster Wallace. How did they either face or avoid ending and leaving? What do their lessons in ending teach us about living in the time that remains for us?   Some leavings brought relief, even joy, while others brought pain and suffering. Whether the cause



was infirmity, impending death, or simply exhaustion and ennui, the ways these influential voices fell silent offer poignant examples of people withdrawing from the world's stage. Throughout this learned and moving book, Taylor probes how the art of living involves learning to leave gracefully.