PROLOGUE
In which I discuss another book as a way to throw into bold relief what this book is about.
1. NEGOTIATING AGAINST MYSELF
In which I evoke my character and personality, especially the way I always argue against myself, am ridiculously ambivalent—who knew?
2. LOVE IS A LONG, CLOSE SCRUTINY
In which I characterize love as a religion w/ fallible gods.
3. WHY IS THE HUMAN ANIMAL SO SAD?
Exploration of melancholy, in myself and the general populace.
4. OUR GROUND TIME HERE WILL BE BRIEF
Partial answer to question asked in previous chapter: we’re the only animal that knows it will die.
5. THE WOUND AND THE BOW
In which I make various self-destructive gestures, flirt none too successfully or seriously with suicide, pull back from the brink via the written word.
6. ALL GREAT BOOKS WIND UP WITH THE WRITER GETTING HIS TEETH BASHED IN
The only books I care about strip the writer naked and, in that way, have at least the chance of conveying some real knowledge of our shared predicament.
7. LIFE V. ART
Do I still love literature?
8. HOW LITERATURE SAVED MY LIFE
How it didn’t.
PERMISSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A Note About the Author
ALSO BY DAVID SHIELDS
Copyright