Synopses & Reviews
A searing, imaginative memoir that pairs two stories, the author's budding self-realization and the race to formulate the theory of evolution.
Synopsis
In The History of My Shoes, Kenny Fries narrates two stories: the development of the theory of "survival of the fittest," as articulated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace; and the history of his ever-changing, made-to-order, orthopedic shoes. The famously important first story, as told by Kenny Fries, is a condensed and colorful account of the race between Darwin and Wallace to formulate their groundbreaking theories. At the same time, Fries, a gay and disabled man, tells a deeply personal story of the evolving consciousness of his own "adaptations," represented by his shoes. As a child, Fries was abused by both his father and brother, and emerged into adulthood swaddled in ambiguities of self and memory. These he has explored in his brutally frank memoir, Body, Remember. In this poetic, introspective book, Kenny Fries imaginatively illustrates how his identities intersect. He writes, "Much of my own work the past fifteen years has been concerned with the body, as both subject and metaphor; as the place where the personal becomes the universal; as the site of memory, language, and desire." Although only the "fittest" may survive, Fries learns that adaptation and variation are critical to survival. What is deemed normal, or even perfect, are passing phases of the ever-changing embodiment of nature in our world. In the end, Darwin and Wallace's discoveries resonate with Fries's own story in The History of My Shoes.
Synopsis
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About the Author
Kenny Fries lives in Northhampton, Massachusetts, and teaches in the MFA program at Goddard College. His books include Body, Remember: A Memoir, Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out, Desert Walking, Anesthesia: Poems, and The Healing Notebook. Most recently he was a Creative Arts Fellow of the Japan-US Friendship Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.