The Self Unstable
2013
First Published
4.09
Average Rating
96
Number of Pages
Elisa Gabbert’s The Self Unstable combines elements of memoir, philosophy, and aphorism to explore and trouble our ideas of the self, memory, happiness, aesthetics, love, and sex. With a sense of humor and an ability to find glimmers of the absurd in the profound, she uses the lyric essay like a koan to provoke the reader’s reflection—unsettling the role of truth and interrogating the “I” in both literary and daily life: “The future isn’t anywhere, so we can never get there. We can only disappear.” (from the publisher's website)
Avg Rating
4.09
Number of Ratings
354
5 STARS
44%
4 STARS
32%
3 STARS
16%
2 STARS
6%
1 STARS
3%
goodreads
Author
Elisa Gabbert
Author · 9 books
Elisa Gabbert writes the On Poetry column for the New York Times and is the author of six collections of poetry, essays, and criticism, including Normal Distance; The Unreality of Memory & Other Essays; The Word Pretty; L'Heure Bleue, or the Judy Poems; The Self Unstable; and The French Exit.
