This Exquisite Loneliness: What Loners, Outcasts, and the Misunderstood Can Teach Us About Creativity
by poet and critic Richard Deming
An examination of the life and work of six brilliant minds of the twentieth century, intent on answering the question “What can be done not despite but because of loneliness?”
In This Exquisite Loneliness: What Loners, Outcasts, and the Misunderstood Can Teach Us About Creativity , Richard Deming turns an eye toward that unwelcome feeling, both in his own experiences and the lives of six groundbreaking figures, to find the context of loneliness and to see what some people have done to navigate this profound sense of discomfort. Deming explores how loneliness has served as fuel for an intense creative desire that has forged some of the most original and innovative art and writing of the twentieth century. This singular meditation on loneliness reveals how we might transform the pain of emotional isolation and become more connected to others and more at home with our often unquiet selves.
“Richard Deming’s mesmerizing exploration of loneliness in its full range of forms—from torment to solace to inspiration, as manifested in the lives of variously brilliant people—is so nuanced, so insightful, so gorgeously written that I found myself underlining passages on nearly every page. It’s unlike any other book I’ve read, which is high praise indeed.”
— Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Hours
