Dictionary of the Undoing

by John Freeman, Valeria Luiselli (Afterword)

Overview

For John Freeman—literary critic, essayist, editor, poet, “one of the preeminent book people of our time” (Dave Eggers)—it is the rare moment when words are not enough. But in the wake of the election of 2016, words felt useless, even indulgent. Action was the only reasonable response. He took to the streets in protest, and the sense of community and collective conviction felt right. But the assaults continued—on citizens’ rights and long-held compacts, on the core principles of our culture and civilization, and on our language itself. Words seemed to be losing the meanings they once had and Freeman was compelled to return to their defense. The result is his Dictionary of the Undoing.

From A to Z, “Agitate” to “Zygote,” Freeman assembled the words that felt most essential, most potent, and began to build a case for their renewed power and authority, each word building on the last. The message that emerged was not to retreat behind books, but to emphatically engage in the public sphere, to redefine what it means to be a literary citizen.

With an afterword by Valeria Luiselli, Dictionary of the Undoing is a necessary, resounding cri de coeur in defense of language, meaning, and our ability to imagine, describe, and build a better world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374538859
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	11/12/2019
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

John Freeman is the editor of Freeman's, a literary annual of new writing. His books include How to Read a Novelist and The Tyranny of E-mail, as well as Tales of Two Americas, an anthology of new writing about inequality in the U.S. today. Maps, his debut collection of poems, was published in 2017. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, andThe New York Times. The former editor of Granta and one-time president of the National Book Critics Circle, he is currently Artist-in-Residence at New York University.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/14/2019

Freeman (Maps), a critic, poet, and editor, offers an alphabet of hope and action in this spare, eloquent meditation on injustice. Only a reclaimed language, Freeman argues, offers the tools to fight global economic inequality, the crippling of democracies, looming environmental disaster, and pervasive apathy. The representative words, including resonant headings such as citizen, justice, and rage, introduce extended definitions that are sobering, probing, and precise. Some are warnings; a vote, for instance, “is the difference between a citizen and a subject.” And some are calls to action: the entry for teachers begins, “If our society is ever going to approach justice, we need revolutionary change.” Freeman provides an incisive narrative of how the world is “edging toward tyranny” and lays a blueprint for rebuilding a decent society, urging readers to “back away from flickering screens,” repopulate public spaces, retain “vigilance about how language is used,” and participate in small, rebellious acts of kindness, generosity, and optimism. A protest, a poem, and a plea, Freeman’s utterly original manifesto is a pocket manual for informed political dissent and a must-read for all thinking citizens, a “lexicon of engagement and meaning.” Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Company. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"[An] incisive, bold, and passionate reclamation of language . . . Each entry in [Freeman's] dictionary . . . is a perceptive and rousing assessment of various aspects of the raging 'information war' and what it’s doing to us and what we can do to counter it. The result, gracefully punctuated with an afterword by MacArthur fellow Valeria Luiselli, is an incandescent and galvanizing protest and call for awareness and action."

—DONNA SEAMAN, Booklist

“[John Freeman] offers an alphabet of hope and action in this spare, eloquent meditation . . . The representative words, including resonant headings such as citizen, justice, and rage, introduce extended definitions that are sobering, probing, and precise . . . A protest, a poem, and a plea, Freeman’s utterly original manifesto is a pocket manual for informed political dissent and a must-read for all thinking citizens.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Poet and editor, John Freeman, has created a work of both artistry and activism in Dictionary of the Undoing, a lexicon of what should matter from A to Z—a complex and nuanced rebirthing of words that have been worn away by the strife and noise of this era." —WALTER MOSLEY

“All [of John Freeman’s] projects feel like an invitation to enter into a polyphonic, multi-voiced conversation with other minds. Dictionary of the Undoing is no different. It is a book that makes you think, then rethink. It invites you to engage with it, to refute it, to contribute to it.” —VALERIA LUISELLI

“How to be good in bad times? How to speak truth? Why read? Why write? Why bother? It is a symptom of our ongoing catastrophe that such questions must be asked, but we’re lucky that John Freeman is out there looking for some answers. Language is Freeman’s primary concern, and in Dictionary of the Undoing he sets out to reclaim it and restore what was damaged by an onslaught of evil and idiocy. One day you might be asked what you were reading in 2019, when everything seemed to be coming apart, and you’re going to want to say John Freeman’s Dictionary of the Undoing.” —ALEKSANDAR HEMON

From the Publisher

2019-09-15
A dictionary of political activism.

Freeman (Writer-in-Residence/New York Univ.; Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation, 2017, etc.), editor of Freeman's literary journal and executive editor of the Literary Hub, is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore. As he writes, our government is like a house on fire, with a "willfully ignorant and gloatingly cruel president." Freeman argues that "we need to take the one tool being vandalized before our very eyes—language—and reclaim it, and redefine what it means to be an ethical citizen in the present moment." He organizes his appeal for action around 26 words, creating a "lexicon of engagement and meaning," and he uses each word as a starting point for his arguments, opinions, and critiques. "We need to grab the words that have possibility in them," he writes, "and begin using them anew." "Agitate" is a key word used throughout the book. Freeman writes that we are being manipulated and fooled and "need to agitate against apathy." He discusses a litany of abuses: corruption; profiteering and power grabbing; attacks on voting rights and the environment; an information war; abusive racism; the hollowing out of our justice departments or erosion via a "corrosive acid wash of money." Freeman bemoans "our lack of support of public education and our dereliction of teachers." He balances what's wrong with what's right, like the rage of women's rights and the altruism of giving. Like a ship sinking in dark waters, the author "wants to navigate around the rhetorical acts of sabotage, to grab the pump levers of language and turn the lights back on." Though sometimes repetitious, Freeman encourages and uplifts. "We are going to change this," he writes, "one day and moment at a time, on our own and with each other."

Exuberant and inspiring clarion calls for activism.

Kirkus Reviews