Humiliation

Wayne Koestenbaum considers the meaning of humiliation in this eloquent work of cultural critique and personal reflection.

The lives of people both famous and obscure are filled with scarlet-letter moments when their dirty laundry sees daylight. In these moments we not only witness the reversibility of "success," of prominence, but also come to visceral terms with our own vulnerable selves. We can't stop watching the scene of shame, identifying with it and absorbing its nearness, and relishing our imagined immunity from its stain, even as we acknowledge the universal, embarrassing predicament of living in our own bodies. With an unusual, disarming blend of autobiography and cultural commentary, noted poet and critic Wayne Koestenbaum takes us through a spectrum of mortifying circumstances--in history, literature, art, current events, music, film, and his own life. His generous disclosures and brilliant observations go beyond prurience to create a poetics of abasement. Inventive, poignant, erudite, and playful, Humiliation plunges into one of the most disquieting of human experiences, with reflections at once emboldening and humane.

Author: Wayne Koestenbaum
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 08/02/2011
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.37lbs
Size: 7.18h x 4.77w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9780312429225

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2011
Publishers Weekly 05/23/2011
Booklist 07/01/2011 pg. 4
Chronicle of Higher Education 07/15/2011 pg. 18
Shelf Awareness 08/05/2011
Shelf Awareness 07/22/2011

About the Author

WAYNE KOESTENBAUM has published five books of poetry, one novel, and six books of nonfiction. A graduate of Harvard and Princeton, he is a distinguished professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center and also a visiting professor in the painting department of the Yale School of Art.

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