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Personhood

By Thalia Field
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3.67 goodreads logo

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Personhood by Thalia Field explores the tangled relationships between humans and nonhuman beings, including refugee parrots and indentured elephants, through a blend of essayistic fragments and poetic lines. The book critiques the human tendency to dominate and misunderstand other species, using literary and ecological perspectives to challenge narratives that deny the lived experiences of animals. With humour and heartache, Field invites readers to reconsider our place on a shared planet and confront the injustices wrought by our anthropocentric views.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3199
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Personhood is ideal for readers interested in arts, culture, ecological literature, and those intrigued by innovative non-fiction that blends science, philosophy, and poetic inquiry. It will appeal to intellectually curious audiences who appreciate challenging and reflective works on environmental and ethical themes.

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A remarkable and moving cross-genre work about animal rights by one of America’s foremost experimental writers

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Whether investigating refugee parrots, indentured elephants, the pathetic fallacy, or the revolving absurdity of the human role in the "invasive species crisis," Personhood reveals how the unmistakable problem between humans and our nonhuman relatives is too often the derangement of our narratives and the resulting lack of situational awareness.

Building on her previous collection, Bird Lovers, Backyard, Thalia Field's essayistic investigations invite us on a humorous, heartbroken journey into how people attempt to control the fragile complexities of a shared planet. The lived experiences of animals, and other historical actors, provide unique literary-ecological responses to the exigencies of injustice and to our delusions of special status.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Acclaimed for its originality and depth, Personhood has been praised by Publishers Weekly for its shifting scenes reminiscent of Alice Notley and James Joyce, while Anne Waldman lauds Field's infectious curiosity and originality. Critics highlight her precise yet intense language, with the New York Times describing the work as a hybrid of essay and poetry that explores toxic human-animal relationships. Hyperallergic commends Field's witty and critical examination of speciesism, making this a forceful and thought-provoking read.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780811229739

Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 May 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: New Directions Publishing Corporation

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 155.0mm

Height: 231.0mm

Weight: 189g

Pages: 128

Collections

Arts & Culture Non-Fiction Poetry Thalia Field

About the Author

Thalia Field is Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor of Creative Writing at Brown University. Her most recent novel is Experimental Animals (A Reality Fiction) from Solid Objects Press. Her three New Directions books are Point and Line (2000), Incarnate: Story Material (2004), and Bird Lovers, Backyard (2010).

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