Portrait of My Body (Paperback)

• Category:  Books  »  Biography & Autobiography  »  Literary
• Format: Paperback   Learn more about the Paperback format using Tower WIKI.
• Publisher: Random House Inc
• ISBN: 0385483775
• WAPI (Tower ID): 100116313
• Release Date: October 1, 1997
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #504379 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
• #17860 in Biography & Autobiography (See Top 100 Biography & Autobiography Bestsellers)
• #1027 in Literary (See Top 100 Literary Bestsellers)

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Phillip Lopate's richest and most ambitious book yet--the final volume of a trilogy that began with "Bachelorhood" and "Against Joie de Vivre"--"Portrait of My Body" is a powerful memoir in the form of interconnected personal essays. One of America's foremost essayists, who helped focus attention on the form in his acclaimed anthology "The Art of the Personal Essay," Lopate demonstrates here just how far a writer can go in the direction of honesty and risk taking.

In thirteen essays, Lopate explores the resources and limits of the self, its many disguises, excuses, and unmaskings, with his characteristic wry humor and insight. From the title essay, a hilarious physical self-exam, to the haunting portrait of his ex-colleague Donald Barthelme, to the bittersweet account of his long-delayed surrender to marriage, "On Leaving Bachelorhood," Lopate wrestles with finding the proper balance between detachment and empathy, doubt and conviction. In other essays, he celebrates his love of film and city life, and reflects on his religious identity as a Jew. A wrenchingly vivid, unforgettable portrait of the author's eccentric, solipsistic, aged father, a self-proclaimed failure, is the centerpiece of a suite of essays about father-figures and resisted mentors. The book ends with the author's own introduction to fatherhood, as witness to the birth of his daughter.

A book that will engage readers with its conversational eloquence, skeptical intelligence, candor, and mischief, "Portrait of My Body" is a captivating work of literary nonfiction.

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