The Thing Itself: On the Search for Authenticity

by Richard Todd

Overview

The celebrated literary memoir and chronicle of one man's search for the elusive gift of authenticity.

Troubled by the lack of substance in contemporary life, Richard Todd suspects that much of what we experience is false. In this unique pursuit of the "genuine," Todd examines his search for authenticity in places and objects, in politics and ideas, and in ourselves, and recounts his efforts to understand the desire to be a real person in a real world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440638381
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/14/2008
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	268 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Richard Todd has spent many years as a magazine and book editor at The Atlantic, New England Monthly, and Houghton Mifflin. His essays and cultural reportage have appeared in The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New York Times, Worth, and numerous other magazines. A member of the MFA faculty at Goucher College, he lives in Western Massachusetts.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"There is a sweet memoir embedded in this book of cultural criticism, into which Mr. Todd has deftly wrangled the whole gang, from Jean Baudrillard to Lionel Trilling."
-The New York Times

"An arch and eloquent meditation."
-O, the Oprah magazine

"Dazzling, beautifully crafted...A small masterpiece- and 'small' only because of its brevity, not its scope."
-Chicago Tribune

"Provocative and oddly comforting...Refreshing."
-The Arizona Republic

"A fully realized, brave, and movingly honest memoir...[Todd] makes a figure in which to contemplate ourselves."
-Ploughshares

"A splendid book, brimming with wit and original insights...Most pertinent to the way we live now."
-Ward Just, author of Forgetfulness