The Givenness of Things: Essays

by Marilynne Robinson

Book Overview

Long-listed for the 2016 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay

The spirit of our times can appear to be one of joyless urgency. As a culture we have become less interested in the exploration of the glorious mind, and more interested in creating and mastering technologies that will yield material well-being. But while cultural pessimism is always fashionable, there is still much to give us hope. In...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374298475
• ISBN13: 9780374298470
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Essays That Stimulate, Enrich And Provoke

I first discovered Marilynne Robinson in a Des Moines, IA bookstore in the form of a 1998 book of essays titled 'The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought.' In that book I was introduced to an author who believed, "People who are blind to the consequences of their own behavior no doubt feel for that reason particularly suited to the work of reforming other people. To them morality seems almost as easy as breathing." And now, or rather 17 years later, she ends her book 'The Giveness of Things' by saying, "We know how deeply we can injure one another by denying fairness. We know how profoundly we can impoverish ourselves by failing to find value in one another. We know that respect is a profound alleviation, which we can offer and too often withhold... A theology of grace is a higher realism, an ethics of truth." I have been deeply affected by this woman's writing... and suspect you might be as well. She is not an easy author to read... donning your true thinking cap is a clear prerequisite before indulging in her thinking. But, then, how can you fault an author who encourages you to think? I highly recommend this book.