Words For The Unbearable

The death of a loved one throws us into a surreal world no one else can understand. The poems in Words for the Unbearable, written after the death of Enid Sanders' one-year-old daughter and later her husband, take readers on a down-to-earth journey through the everyday realities of grieving, mirroring their experience so they know they're not alone.

With its privileging of the unconscious, Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic thought would seem to be at odds with the goals and methods of philosophy. Lacan himself embraced the term "anti-philosophy" in characterizing his work, and yet his seminars undeniably evince rich engagement with the Western philosophical tradition. These essays explore how Lacan's work challenges and builds on this tradition of ethical and political thought, connecting his "ethics of psychoanalysis" to both the classical Greek tradition of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and to the Enlightenment tradition of Kant, Hegel, and de Sade. Charles Freeland shows how Lacan critically addressed some of the key ethical concerns of those traditions: the pursuit of truth and the ethical good, the ideals of self-knowledge and the care of the soul, and the relation of moral law to the tragic dimensions of death and desire. Rather than sustaining the characterization of Lacan's work as "anti-philosophical," these essays identify a resonance capable of enriching philosophy by opening it to wider and evermore challenging perspectives.

At stake in this book is a struggle with language in a time when our old faith in the redeeming of the word-and the word's power to redeem-has almost been destroyed. Drawing on Benjamin's political theology, his interpretation of the German Baroque mourning play, and Adorno's critical aesthetic theory, but also on the thought of poets and many other philosophers, especially Hegel's phenomenology of spirit, Nietzsche's analysis of nihilism, and Derrida's writings on language, Kleinberg-Levin shows how, because of its communicative and revelatory powers, language bears the utopian "promise of happiness," the idea of a secular redemption of humanity, at the very heart of which must be the achievement of universal justice. In an original reading of Beckett's plays, novels and short stories, Kleinberg-Levin shows how, despite inheriting a language damaged, corrupted and commodified, Beckett redeems dead or dying words and wrests from this language new possibilities for the expression of meaning. Without denying Beckett's nihilism, his picture of a radically disenchanted world, Kleinberg-Levin calls attention to moments when his words suddenly ignite and break free of their despair and pain, taking shape in the beauty of an austere yet joyous lyricism, suggesting that, after all, meaning is still possible.

In this volume, J. Gerald Janzen examines the text of the book of Job as a literary text within the context of the history of the religion of Israel and within the broader context of the universal human condition. He approaches the basic character of the book from a literary perspective which enables him to identify human existence as exemplified in Job and to expound on the mystery of good and evil, which gives human existence its experiential texture and which together drive humans to ask the same kind of questions asked by Job. This is the first full-length commentary to present Job systematically and literarily.

'Wonderfully spirited' DAILY MAIL The follow-up to the Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller Lost for Words, from Today presenter and national treasure John Humphrys. From the huge response to Lost for Words, it's clear that many of us share John's strong feelings about the use and misuse of the English language. Not because we want to split hairs (or infinitives) but because how we use words reveals so much about the way we see the world. Here John takes a sharp look at phrases and expressions in current use to expose the often hidden attitudes that lie behind them - from the schoolroom to the boardroom, from Westminster to the weather forecast. Questioning our assumptions, puncturing our illusions and illuminating the way we live now, Beyond Words is a small book that speaks volumes.

In the style of a quote-a-day collection, this book from Wisdom’s bestselling author Joanne Cacciatore distills down the award-winning book Bearing the Unbearable into easy-to-access small chunks, and includes much brand-new material, including new prose and poems from Dr. Jo and other sources as well. From INDIES Gold Medal Award-Winner and Wisdom Bestseller Joanne Cacciatore If you love, you will grieve—and nothing is more mysteriously central to becoming fully human. This book is a companion to carry with you throughout your day, to touch in with and be supported by when bearing the unbearable pain of a loved one’s death—whether weeks or years since their passing. Our culture often makes the bereaved feel alone, isolated, broken, and like they should just “get over it”—this book offers a loving antidote. Open to any page and you’ll find something that will instantly help you feel not alone, while honoring the full weight of loss. This book is comprised of quotations from Bearing the Unbearable, and other sources as well, plus an enormous amount of new material from Dr. Jo. Especially well-suited for the grieving mind that may struggle with concentration, just 30 seconds on any page will empower, hearten, and validate any bereaved person—helping give strength and courage to bear life’s most painful losses. Praise for Bearing the Unbearable “This masterpiece is the greatest gift I could give to someone entrenched in grief, or to the loved ones of the bereaved.”—The Tattooed Buddha “Simply the best book I have ever read on the process of grief.”—Huffington Post “Anyone who's trying to deal with a loss, or anyone who knows someone dealing with a loss, (and in truth, isn't that everyone?) will benefit from reading this amazing book.”—Foreword Reviews “It offers hope for those who feel like their loss has disconnected themselves forever from humanity and the circle of life.”—Doug Bremner, MD, professor of psychiatry, Emory University and author of You Can’t Just Snap Out of It “This is a holy book, riddled with insight and compassion.”—Francis Weller, author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow