{"product_id":"bright-unbearable-reality-essays-paperback","title":"Bright Unbearable Reality: Essays - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAnna Badkhen\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2022 National Book Awards Longlist for Nonfiction \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEssays about migration, displacement, and the hope for connection in a time of emotional and geopolitical disruption by a Soviet-born writer and former war correspondent. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCalled a \"chronicler of a world on the move\" by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, Anna Badkhen seeks what separates and binds us at a time when one in seven people has left their birthplace, while a pandemic dictates the direst season of rupture in humankind's remembering. Her new essay collection, \u003ci\u003eBright Unbearable Reality\u003c\/i\u003e, comprises eleven essays set on four continents--roving everywhere from Oklahoma to Azerbaijan--and united by a common thread of communion and longing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn these essays, Badkhen addresses the human condition in the era of such unprecedented dislocation, contemplates the roles of memory and wonder in how we relate to one another, and asks how we can soberly and responsibly counter despair and continue to develop--or at least imagine--an emotional vocabulary against depravity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe subject throughout the collection is bright unbearable reality itself, a translation of Greek \u003ci\u003eenargeia\u003c\/i\u003e, which, says the poet Alice Oswald, is \"when gods come to earth not in disguise but as themselves.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEssays include: \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e-\u003c\/b\u003e In \"The Pandemic, Our Common Story,\" which takes place in the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, one of the locations where humankind originated, the onset of the global pandemic catches Badkhen mid-journey, researching human dispersal 160,000 years ago and migration in modern times.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e-\u003c\/b\u003e In \"How to Read the Air,\" set mostly in Philadelphia, Badkhen looks to the ancient Greeks for help pondering our need for certainty at a time of racist violence, political upheaval, and environmental cataclysm.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e-\u003c\/b\u003e \"Ways of Seeing\" and the title essay \"Bright Unbearable Reality\" wrestle with complications of distance and specifically the bird's eye view--the relationship between physical distance, understanding, and engagement.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e-\u003c\/b\u003e \"Landscape with Icarus\" examines how and why children go missing, while \"Dark Matter\" explores how violence always takes us by surprise.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnna Badkhen\u003c\/b\u003e was born in the Soviet Union and is now an American citizen. She is the author of six previous books of nonfiction. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Barry Lopez Visiting Writer in Ethics and Community Fellowship, and a Joel R. Seldin Award from Psychologists for Social Responsibility for writing about civilians in war zones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.63 x 8.43 x 5.67 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 18, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAward:\u003c\/strong\u003e National Book Awards (2022)\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51766347628832,"sku":"9781681377063","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/98c73d767439cd6b3f28402681e052ca.webp?v=1780290851","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/bright-unbearable-reality-essays-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}