At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life
“A treasure that I didn’t know I was looking for.” —Rabih Alameddine, author of The Angel of History
Fenton Johnson’s lyrical prose and searching sensibility explore what it means to choose solitude and to celebrate the notion that solitude is a legitimate and dignified calling. He delves into the lives and works of nearly a dozen iconic solitaries he considers his kindred spirits, from Thoreau at Walden Pond and Emily Dickenson in Amherst, to the fiercely self-protective Zora Neale Hurston. The bright wakes these figures have left behind illuminate Fenton Johnson’s journey from his childhood in rural Kentucky to his solitary travels in America, France, and India. Woven into his musings about better-known solitaries are stories of friends and family he has lost and found along the way.”
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At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life
“A treasure that I didn’t know I was looking for.” —Rabih Alameddine, author of The Angel of History
Fenton Johnson’s lyrical prose and searching sensibility explore what it means to choose solitude and to celebrate the notion that solitude is a legitimate and dignified calling. He delves into the lives and works of nearly a dozen iconic solitaries he considers his kindred spirits, from Thoreau at Walden Pond and Emily Dickenson in Amherst, to the fiercely self-protective Zora Neale Hurston. The bright wakes these figures have left behind illuminate Fenton Johnson’s journey from his childhood in rural Kentucky to his solitary travels in America, France, and India. Woven into his musings about better-known solitaries are stories of friends and family he has lost and found along the way.”
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At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life
“A treasure that I didn’t know I was looking for.” —Rabih Alameddine, author of The Angel of History
Fenton Johnson’s lyrical prose and searching sensibility explore what it means to choose solitude and to celebrate the notion that solitude is a legitimate and dignified calling. He delves into the lives and works of nearly a dozen iconic solitaries he considers his kindred spirits, from Thoreau at Walden Pond and Emily Dickenson in Amherst, to the fiercely self-protective Zora Neale Hurston. The bright wakes these figures have left behind illuminate Fenton Johnson’s journey from his childhood in rural Kentucky to his solitary travels in America, France, and India. Woven into his musings about better-known solitaries are stories of friends and family he has lost and found along the way.”
Fenton Johnson is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. He teaches at Spalding University, contributes to Harper’s magazine, and has been featured on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He lives in San Francisco, California, and Tucson, Arizona.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Monks and Rascals 1
Chapter 2 The Forging of a Solitary 16
Chapter 3 I to Myself Henry David Thoreau 39
Chapter 4 The Psychology of the Earth Paul Cézanne 53
Chapter 5 Formidably Alone Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson 73
Chapter 6 The Generosity of Bachelors Henry James 95
Chapter 7 All Serious Daring Begins Within Eudora Welty 107
Chapter 8 The Lover of God Rabindranath Tagore 128
Chapter 9 A Soundless Island in a Tideless Sea Zora Neale Hurston 157
Chapter 10 A Man Alone, A Single Woman Rod McKuen Nina Simone 168
Chapter 11 Those Who Seek Beauty Will Find It Bill Cunningham 185