The evolution of fire : essays on crisis and becoming / Angela Pelster.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pelster, Angela, 1975- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pelster, Angela, 1975-.

Pelster, Angela.

Women authors, American--Biography.

Women authors, American.

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Essays.

Physical Description:

161 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis, Minnesota : Milkweed Editions, 2026.

Summary:

"A collection of essays in which the author tempers humanity's ancient capacity for evolution against her own tipping points and impossible decisions"-- Provided by publisher.

"Crisis is an agent of evolution, and Angela Pelster knows what it means to evolve. As a child, she burned grass to keep weeds at bay and watched tadpoles transform. She basked in the warmth of her father's love but was burned by his rage, and she witnessed a sudden, unnamable change occur in her older sister after an encounter with a stranger in a white van. In adulthood, she survived the explosion of her marriage, the destruction of her burning home, and a year spent as the single mother of a toddler without a home of their own. And like us all, she has weathered the upheaval of our current atmosphere--political instability, climate change, mass extinction. But in spite of the world's violence, Pelster manages to remain open to its beauty, deciding not to resist change, but to give herself over to it and let evolution make her into a new animal. She plumbs the depths of ancestral knowledge to uncover the scale of our ancient capacity for adaptation, from humankind's early harnessing of fire to the grandmothers responsible for our continued existence. Meditative and curious, pulsing with fascination, fear, and the untamable human spirit, The Evolution of Fire contemplates who we are now and what we still might become"--Publisher's website.

Contents:

The break-in

Metamorphosis

Fire's children

The wildest things

The evolution of fire

The inside of a shell: a fable

Association games

The simplest part

Vestiges: a retelling

Honey church

Golden egg

Eating the dead: a guided tour

Good animals

Irreconcilable city

The watchers

Endless forms most beautiful.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Online version Pelster, Angela Evolution of fire

ISBN:

9781639551231

1639551239

OCLC:

1531592069