| Passing Time: An Essay on Waiting TRA Edition Contributor(s): Kohler, Andrea, Lilla, Mark (Foreward By), Eskin, Michael (Translator) |
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ISBN: 1935830481 ISBN-13: 9781935830481 Publisher: Upper West Side Philosophers Inc OUR PRICE: $18.95 Product Type: Paperback Published: February 2017 Annotation: ""Passing Time" is a profound meditation on life's many interstitial spaces, in which we spend time waiting for something to happen -- the queue, the waiting room, the place held for two when only one has arrived. At once poetic and philosophical, intimate and analytical, "Passing Time" forms the perfect antidote to the headlong rush of our culture."-- |
| Additional Information |
| Library of Congress Subjects: - Waiting (Philosophy). - Time. |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | European - Self-help | Creativity |
| Dewey: 115 |
| LCCN: 2016034606 |
| Academic/Grade Level: Scholarly/Graduate |
| Series: Subway Line |
| Book type: Non-Fiction |
| Physical Information: 7.50" H x 4.75" W x 0.50" (0.35 lbs) 140 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Reviewed by Publishers Weekly Reviews (PW Reviews 2016 November #2) In these meditations, Swiss journalist Köhler argues that in an era where time is shaped by technology (the instantaneity of e-mail, the delays imposed by customer service "please wait" messages), "the art of waiting needs to be learned." Her book is modest in size but abundant in content, and allusive but fully accessible. It insists on "the joyful aspects of waiting, slowness, and rest." Kohler shares a relaxed, cosmopolitan erudition with the reader. A veritable pantheon of distinguished writers accompany her reflections, among them Samuel Beckett, Dante, Homer, and Marcel Proust. What waiting means, as it occurs at different times and in different places, is the governing question. Köhler observes waiting in the train station, in the doctor's office, and in bureaucratic agencies. Going from the waiting of children for celebrations to the waiting of condemned prisoners for execution, she conveys a sense of both the gift and the anxiety of time. Along the way are enriching tidbits: an etymological digression into the word "wait" itself, a historical reminder of the appearance of a railroad timetable. What haunts this lively challenge to the passage of time is the "paradox of an overabundance of too little time" in contemporary life. (Feb.) Copyright 2016 Publisher Weekly. |