Thin skin : essays / Jenn Shapland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shapland, Jenn, 1987- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American essays--21st century.

American essays.

Capitalism.

Women.

Genre:

Essays.

Physical Description:

xiii, 270 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2023]

Summary:

"From a National Book Award finalist and a powerful literary mind, an incisive new work examining capitalism's toxic creep into the land, our bodies, and our thinking. When she receives a dermatological diagnosis of extreme sensitivity--thin skin-Jenn Shapland considers just how thin the barrier is between herself and the world, and how deeply vulnerable we all are to our surroundings. As she becomes aware of the impacts her tiniest choices have on people, places, and species far away, she can't stop seeing the ways we are enmeshed and entangled with everyone else on the planet. Despite our attempts to cordon ourselves off from risk, our boundaries are permeable. Weaving together historical research, interviews, and her everyday life in New Mexico as source material, Shapland probes the lines between self and work, human and animal, need and desire. She traces the legacies of nuclear weapons development on Native land, unable to let go of her search for contamination until it bleeds out into her own family's medical history. She questions the toxic myth of white womanhood and the fear she has been made to feel since her girlhood when traveling alone. And she explores her desire to build a creative life as a queer woman, asking whether such a thing as a meaningful life is possible under capitalism. Ceaselessly curious, uncompromisingly intelligent, and urgently seeking, with Thin Skin Shapland builds thrillingly on her genre-defying debut--"gorgeous, symphonic, tender, and brilliant" (Carmen Machado)--firmly establishing her as one of the sharpest essayists of her generation"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Thin skin

Strangers on a train

The toomuchness

Crystal vortex

The meaning of life.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Online version: Shapland, Jenn, 1987- Thin skin

ISBN:

9780593317457

0593317459

OCLC:

1349288032