Givenness Of Things - Softcover

Marilynne Robinson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349007330 ISBN 13: 9780349007335

Publisher: Virago, 2016

Synopsis

A profound essay collection from the beloved author of Gilead, Houskeeping and Lila, including Marilynne Robinson''s conversation with President Barack Obama.

''Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human'' BARACK OBAMA

Robinson has plumbed the depths of the human spirit in her trilogy of novels - Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead, Orange-Prize winning Home and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Lila - and in her moving essay collection When I Was a Child I Read Books.

Now, in The Givenness of Things, she brings a profound sense of awe and an incisive mind to the essential questions of contemporary life and faith. Through fourteen essays of remarkable depth and insight, Robinson explores the dilemmas of our modern predicament. How has our so-called Christian nation strayed from so many of the teachings of Christ? How could the great minds of the past, like Calvin, Locke and Shakespeare, guide our lives? And what might the world look like if we could see the sacredness in each other?

Exquisite and bold, these essays are a necessary call for us to find wisdom and guidance in our cultural treasures, to seek humanity and compassion in each other. The Givenness of Things is a reminder of what a marvel our existence is in its grandeur - and its humility.

About this title

From the Back Cover

One of Time’s top 10 nonfiction books of 2015 shortlisted for the 2016 Pen/Diamonstein-Spielvogel award for the Art of the Essay.

The incomparable Marilynne Robinson has delivered an impassioned critique of contemporary society—our addiction to technology, our materialism—while arguing that reverence must be given to who we are and what we are: creatures of singular interest and value, despite our errors and depredations.

Robinson has plumbed the depths of the human spirit in her novels, including the National Book Critics Circle Award—winning Lila and the Pulitzer Prize—winning Gilead, and in her new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern predicament and the mysteries of faith. These seventeen essays examine the ideas that have inspired and provoked one of our finest writers throughout her life. Whether she is investigating how the work of the great thinkers of the past, Calvin, Locke, Bonhoeffer—and Shakespeare—can infuse our lives, or drawing attention to the rise of the self-declared elite in American religious and political life, Robinson’s peerless prose and boundless humanity are on display.

Exquisite and bold, The Givenness of Things is a necessary call for us to study our cultural heritage in search of both wisdom and guidance and to offer grace to one another.

About the Author

Marilynne Robinson is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Orange Prize for fiction and she has twice been nominated for the International Man Booker Prize. In 2013 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama.

Edition details

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0349007330
• ISBN 13: 9780349007335
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 322