Enough About You - Hardcover

Shields, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743225783 ISBN 13: 9780743225786

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2002

Synopsis

Enough About You is a book about David Shields. But it is also a terrifically engrossing exploration and exploitation of self-reflection, self-absorption, full-blown narcissism, and the impulse to write about oneself. In a world awash with memoirs and tell-alls, Shields has created something unique: he invites the reader into his mind as he turns his life into a narrative. With moving and often hilarious candor, Shields ruminates on a variety of subjects, all while exploring the impulse to confess, to use oneself as an autobiographical subject, to make one's life into a work of art. Shields explores the connections between fiction and nonfiction, stuttering and writing, literary forms and literary contents, art and life; he confronts bad reviews of his earlier books; he examines why he read a college girlfriend's journal; he raids a wide range of cultural figures (from Rousseau, Nabokov, and Salinger to Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, and Bobby Knight) for what they have to tell him about himself; he quotes a speech he wrote on the occasion of his father's ninetieth birthday and then gives us the guilt-induced dream he had when he failed to deliver the speech; he also writes about basketball and sexuality and Los Angeles and Seattle, but he is always meditating on the origins of his interest in autobiography, on the limits and appeals of autobiography, on the traps and strategies of it, and finally, how to use it to get to the world. The result is a collection of poetically charged self-reflections that reveal deep truths about ourselves as well.

About this title

About the Author

David Shields is the internationally bestselling author of more than twenty books, including Reality Hunger (recently named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade by LitHub), The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (New York Times bestseller), Black Planet (finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award), and Other People: Takes & Mistakes (NYTBR Editors' Choice). The Very Last Interview was published by New York Review Books in 2022.

Shields has published fiction and nonfiction in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Yale Review, Salon, A Public Space, Believer, and Best American Essays. His work has been translated into two dozen languages.

James Franco's film adaptation of I Think You're Totally Wrong: A Quarrel, which Shields co-wrote and co-stars in, was released in 2017. Shields wrote, produced, and directed Lynch: A History, a 2019 documentary about Marshawn Lynch's use of silence, echo, and mimicry as key tools of resistance.

From the Back Cover

J. Peder Zane, Raleigh News & Observer: ". . .works because of the writer's fearless honesty . . . . Shields ditches the outside subject matter to confront his narcissism head-on, a particularly potent theme in these self-absorbed times. . . . his thoughts on his writing life are illuminating."

Reviews

Although its subtitle promises a bold and exotic journey through introspection, this somewhat rambling, definitely disorganized work could more appropriately be called "Musings in Partial Autobiography." Novelist and nonfiction writer Shields (Heroes; Black Planet; etc.) delivers a combination of invention and confession, telling his life story in snippets and half-remembered moments. He travels from one subject to another, skimming the surface of his life like an indifferent water bug. Some essays are steeped in standard autobiographical technique, as when he gains insight from memories of being a jerk at his high school newspaper's office, while others use a kind of free association, allowing Shields to discuss his favorite books without revealing too much of his feelings. In the introduction, he states that he wants to explore his own doomed character; he wants to cut to the absolute bone: "Everything else seems like so much gimmickry." But despite his sharp, excellent writing, there isn't a glimpse of bone here; there's barely even blood drawn. Shields succeeds in examining autobiography itself as a genre, sizing it up with an almost scholarly perspective, but in terms of his own life, he presents few details and then implies that even those may be fabricated or poorly remembered. Those who have come to appreciate Shields's fine writing will enjoy his thoughts on Bill Murray, Nabokov and Adam Sandler, but those seeking true adventure in autobiography should travel elsewhere.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The author of two nonfiction works (including Black Planet, which was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award), Shields here puts a twist on his talents by turning to the subject of autobiography and memoir. At a time when publication in this genre is almost overwhelming, Shields has done something different. While this book is certainly about him, it is also much more; Shields lets us into his mind and turns his life into a narrative, with each short chapter working as a snapshot of his life and related subjects. For instance, the reader is treated to intimate and humorous details of relationships he had with two women, Rebecca and Rachel. He also explores such subjects as sex, literary criticism, family, and even actor Bill Murray. In doing so, Shields examines the impulse to write about our experiences, turning our lives into works of art. Shields pulls this off with candor and grace to such an extent that we can see ourselves shining through. Recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/02.] Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Shields started out writing autobiographical fiction and then switched to nonfiction, including his much-discussed Black Planet: Facing Race during an NBA Season (1999), which he admits is laced with a judicious amount of inventiveness. Contemplation of the blurry line between fiction and fact, and our obsession with self, has now inspired Shields to compose short, vaguely amusing essays meant to explain why he believes that "the only serious subject is the mystery of identity." He does broach this intriguing theme now and then, but basically Shields is just having fun discussing his previous books and the bad reviews he's received, telling not so flattering stories about himself (he read his college girlfriend's journal), and offering breezy literary critiques and a lively assessment of Bill Murray. Shields is pithy, and he does possesses the literary equivalent of the wily moves he so admires in basketball players, but he's a lousy shot, and this assemblage doesn't add up to much. It is, however, diverting in a smart-alecky way, and Shields' fans will enjoy his insouciance. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743225783
• ISBN 13: 9780743225786
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192