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For the Time Being

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For the Time Being Cover

ISBN13: 9780375703478
ISBN10: 0375703470
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

National Bestseller

"Beautifully written and delightfully strange--. As earthy as it is sublime, For the Time Being is, in the truest sense, an eye- opener."--Daily News

From Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and one of the most compelling writers of our time, comes For the Time Being, her most profound narrative to date. With her keen eye, penchant for paradox, and yearning for truth, Dillard renews our ability to discover wonder in life's smallest--and often darkest--corners.

Why do we exist? Where did we come from? How can one person matter? Dillard searches for answers in a powerful array of images: pictures of bird-headed dwarfs in the standard reference of human birth defects; ten thousand terra-cotta figures fashioned for a Chinese emperor in place of the human court that might have followed him into death; the paleontologist and theologian Teilhard de Chardin crossing the Gobi Desert; the dizzying variety of clouds. Vivid, eloquent, haunting, For the Time Being evokes no less than the terrifying grandeur of all that remains tantalizingly and troublingly beyond our understanding.

"Stimulating, humbling, original--. [Dillard] illuminate[s] the human perspective of the world, past, present and future, and the individual's relatively inconsequential but ever so unique place in it."--Rocky Mountain News

Synopsis:

On the 25th anniversary of her acclaimed "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, " Dillard presents a compassionate, informative, enthralling, and always surprising personal narrative that surveys the panorama of the world, past and present.
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About the Author

Annie Dillard lives in Middletown, Connecticut.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
David Nolan, January 1, 2011 (view all comments by David Nolan)
actually this is a re-read.I hope that counts. this book mesmerized me . The scope of her thoughts on the passing of time gave me (a not very philosophical guy)time to pause and reflect on my little place in the scheme of things. Like the geology of humanity. I buy it and give it to all my new friends.
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Elizabeth L, January 20, 2010 (view all comments by Elizabeth L)
This book was less immediately affecting than The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, but it combines Dillard's intense curiosity for scientific fact (particularly anomalous cases) and religious history into a lyrical and beautiful prose style that seems to truly reflect the wonder and awe she finds in nature and life. I imagine Dillard as the sort of writer who spends hours pouring over really dense histories and scientific textbooks, only to pull out exquisite details which she renders into poetic insights into the human condition. Even if this isn't how she works, what is certain is the amount of herself Dillard injects into her prose. She wants readers to confront her uncertainties as well as her convictions, and she lays them bare. She also succeeds in the careful craftsmanship such lyrical writing demands. Here, she uses 7 chapters (hardly a coincidental number given how invested this book is in ideas regarding creation, birth, and existence). She divides them each into topic headings, beginning (always) with "birth" and ending (always) with "now." It is an incredible way to organize such vast swaths of information, and to allow the reader to glimpse patterns that may not have emerged otherwise. I recommend this, and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek even more highly. Annie Dillard is one of my favorite writers. Reading her truly feels as if you are encountering someone who has to write in order to make sense of her world.
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Stella, September 16, 2007 (view all comments by Stella)
Annie Dillard intertwines spiritual traditions, glimpses of birth and death, observations of clouds, the life of a famous monk/paleontologist and other seemingly unconnected images in a moving and poetic statement. As she moves between her chosen themes, a glowing portrait of humanity develops. A book which strikes each reader differently, and can be re-read again and again.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780375703478
Author:
Dillard, Annie
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Essays
Subject:
American essays
Subject:
Women Authors
Subject:
American essays -- 20th century.
Subject:
American essays -- Women authors.
Subject:
Anthologies-Essays
Copyright:
2000
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage
Series Volume:
no. 96-02
Publication Date:
20000231
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
224
Dimensions:
8.06x5.20x.60 in. .52 lbs.
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Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Anthologies » Essays
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

For the Time Being Used Trade Paper
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Product details 224 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780375703478 Reviews:
"Synopsis" by , On the 25th anniversary of her acclaimed "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, " Dillard presents a compassionate, informative, enthralling, and always surprising personal narrative that surveys the panorama of the world, past and present.
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