Blending confessional criticism and cultural autobiography, David
Shields explores the power of literature to make life survivable, maybe
even endurable. Evoking his deeply divided personality, his character
flaws, his woes, his serious despair, he wants "literature to assuage
human loneliness, but nothing can assuage human loneliness. Literature
doesn't lie about this--which is what makes it essential." This is a
captivating, thought-provoking, utterly original book about the
essential acts of reading and writing.