A revelatory short memoir from the bestselling author of A Tale for the Time Being and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki about how her face has shaped and been shaped by her life.
What did your face look like before your parents were born? In The Face: A Time Code, bestselling author and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki recounts, in moment-to-moment detail, a profound encounter with memory and the mirror. According to ancient Zen tradition, "your face before your parents were born" is your original face. Who are you? What is your true self? What is your identity before or beyond the dualistic distinctions, like father/mother and good/evil, that come to define us?
With these questions in mind, Ozeki challenges herself to spend three hours gazing into her own reflection, recording her thoughts, and noticing every possible detail. Those solitary hours open up a lifetime's worth of meditations on race, aging, family, death, the body, self doubt, and, finally, acceptance. In this lyrical short memoir, Ozeki calls on her experience of growing up in the wake of World War II as a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian American; of having a public face as an author; of studying the intricate art of the Japanese Noh mask; of being ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest; and of her own and her parents' aging, to paint a rich, intimate and utterly unique portrait of a life as told through a face.
Praise for Ruth Ozeki
"Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists....bewitching, intelligent, hilarious, and heartbreaking, often on the same page."
--Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of This Is How You Lose Her
"Ozeki joins the constellation of such environmentally aware writers as Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx, and Margaret Atwood."
--Chicago Tribune
"A careful, considerate writer."
--Booklist
The Face: A Time Code
A revelatory short memoir from the bestselling author of A Tale for the Time Being and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki about how her face has shaped and been shaped by her life.
What did your face look like before your parents were born? In The Face: A Time Code, bestselling author and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki recounts, in moment-to-moment detail, a profound encounter with memory and the mirror. According to ancient Zen tradition, "your face before your parents were born" is your original face. Who are you? What is your true self? What is your identity before or beyond the dualistic distinctions, like father/mother and good/evil, that come to define us?
With these questions in mind, Ozeki challenges herself to spend three hours gazing into her own reflection, recording her thoughts, and noticing every possible detail. Those solitary hours open up a lifetime's worth of meditations on race, aging, family, death, the body, self doubt, and, finally, acceptance. In this lyrical short memoir, Ozeki calls on her experience of growing up in the wake of World War II as a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian American; of having a public face as an author; of studying the intricate art of the Japanese Noh mask; of being ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest; and of her own and her parents' aging, to paint a rich, intimate and utterly unique portrait of a life as told through a face.
Praise for Ruth Ozeki
"Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists....bewitching, intelligent, hilarious, and heartbreaking, often on the same page."
--Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of This Is How You Lose Her
"Ozeki joins the constellation of such environmentally aware writers as Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx, and Margaret Atwood."
--Chicago Tribune
"A careful, considerate writer."
--Booklist
A revelatory short memoir from the bestselling author of A Tale for the Time Being and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki about how her face has shaped and been shaped by her life.
What did your face look like before your parents were born? In The Face: A Time Code, bestselling author and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki recounts, in moment-to-moment detail, a profound encounter with memory and the mirror. According to ancient Zen tradition, "your face before your parents were born" is your original face. Who are you? What is your true self? What is your identity before or beyond the dualistic distinctions, like father/mother and good/evil, that come to define us?
With these questions in mind, Ozeki challenges herself to spend three hours gazing into her own reflection, recording her thoughts, and noticing every possible detail. Those solitary hours open up a lifetime's worth of meditations on race, aging, family, death, the body, self doubt, and, finally, acceptance. In this lyrical short memoir, Ozeki calls on her experience of growing up in the wake of World War II as a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian American; of having a public face as an author; of studying the intricate art of the Japanese Noh mask; of being ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest; and of her own and her parents' aging, to paint a rich, intimate and utterly unique portrait of a life as told through a face.
Praise for Ruth Ozeki
"Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists....bewitching, intelligent, hilarious, and heartbreaking, often on the same page."
--Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of This Is How You Lose Her
"Ozeki joins the constellation of such environmentally aware writers as Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx, and Margaret Atwood."
--Chicago Tribune
"A careful, considerate writer."
--Booklist
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940158989834 |
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Publisher: | Restless Books |
Publication date: | 07/13/2015 |
Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 176 |
File size: | 703 KB |
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