Keynote
A career-spanning collection of inspiring, revelrous essays about art and artists
Book Title
Like Love
Subtitle
Essays and Conversations
Cover Image
- “We have a sense, I think, of the false border sequestering art from theory. And so to remark on Maggie Nelson’s facility in mating the two is to say the least about how she does so—which is with a hurtling gusto that nonetheless invites us to pause and think.”—Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker
Body
Like Love is a momentous, raucous collection of essays drawn from twenty years of Maggie Nelson’s brilliant work. These profiles, reviews, remembrances, tributes, and critical essays, as well as several conversations with friends and idols, bring to life Nelson’s passion for dialogue and dissent. The range of subjects is wide—from Prince to Carolee Schneemann to Matthew Barney to Lhasa de Sela to Kara Walker—but certain themes recur: intergenerational exchange; love and friendship; feminist and queer issues, especially as they shift over time; subversion, transgression, and perversity; the roles of the critic and of language in relation to visual and performance arts; forces that feed or impede certain bodies and creators; and the fruits and follies of a life spent devoted to making.
Arranged chronologically, Like Love shows the writing, thinking, feeling, reading, looking, and conversing that occupied Nelson while writing iconic books such as Bluets and The Argonauts. As such, it is a portrait of a time, an anarchic party rich with wild guests, a window into Nelson’s own development, and a testament to the profound sustenance offered by art and artists.
Arranged chronologically, Like Love shows the writing, thinking, feeling, reading, looking, and conversing that occupied Nelson while writing iconic books such as Bluets and The Argonauts. As such, it is a portrait of a time, an anarchic party rich with wild guests, a window into Nelson’s own development, and a testament to the profound sustenance offered by art and artists.
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About the Author
Credit: Sarah St Clair Renard
Upcoming Events
PSA Talks: Maggie Nelson on Ambition, Autobiography, and Abundance in Sylvia Plath & Taylor Swift
Date:
Location:
Poetry Society of America in Brooklyn, NYview map
Maggie Nelson discusses the art and public profiles of Sylvia Plath and Taylor Swift, among other artists, including Emily Dickinson and Gertrude Stein, in a discussion of the cultural politics of female fame, followed by a Q&A. Registration required (Tickets $15 / $5 for members). Register here.
Praise
- “Like Love is a personal intellectual genealogy, both a chart of Nelson’s influences, collaborators, and intimate friendships, and a map of her mind at work. . . . Throughout Like Love, Nelson is herself a poet of the question spirit.”—Walton Muyumba, The Boston Globe
- “Readers can practically watch Nelson’s incisive mind growing and changing as she speaks with colleagues such as Hilton Als and Judith Butler, or as she writes about queerness, motherhood, violence, the lyrics of Prince and the devastating loss of a friend.”—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times
- “Nelson’s admiration and enthusiasm for her subjects is a palpable driver of joy and delight. . . . A revelatory gathering of beloved art and artists presented with distinctive prose.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
- “Penetrating and lucid. . . . Every essay is a master class in close looking. . . . Nelson’s insights are vital and sustaining.”—Booklist, starred review
