World Enough & Time, On Creativity and Slowing Down [Paperback]

Christian McEwen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2011

World Enough and Time focuses on the positive effect of deliberately simple living on creativity. McEwen juxtaposes religious traditions of both the East and West, and intertwines words of wisdom from writers ranging from Montaigne to Ralph Waldo Emerson and from Virginia Woolf to Jack Kerouac to Adrienne Rich, artists and musicians from John Ruskin to Meredith Monk, and myriad psychologists, linguists, philosophers, and scholars. In so doing, she creates a unique combination of history, spirituality, and practical advice about how to incorporate slowness and its benefits into everyday living. In short, it s what she calls inspiration for the literate reader. According to McEwen, the nonstop emphasis on productivity that is so prevalent in our society is counterproductive for anyone wanting to be creative. She describes a typical response to the question, How are you?regardless of age, race, class, and gender: I'm just so busy. Really, I'm crazy-busy, branding it as a mark of honor. Yet, she continues, When people are asked where they get their best ideas, again and again they answer, In the bathroom, On vacation, Doing nothing. They begin, in other words, by simply being. If we slow down, McEwen asserts, we can appreciate Henry David Thoreau's comment that, A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. She adds, Thoreau knew too, what contemporary thinkers are just beginning to understand, that the human mind is not some isolated little manikin inside our heads; rather it is fed and nourished by every sight and smell and sound that we encounter, from the movement of the clouds to the shrill of the birds outside our morning window. World Enough and Time extols the benefits of observation, conversation, walking, pausing and dreaming within a literary and artistic framework spanning centuries. World Enough and Time is the result of thirty years of thinking, teaching and writing in the midst of a busy world. Turning to stories of the writers and artists she has studied all these years, McEwen finds that each anecdote is its own parable of truth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

WORLD ENOUGH & TIME is, above all, simply one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. . . I read it far too quickly because I suffer from the very disease it illuminates so well, and I am one of those who warn against this disease (hurry sickness) that is everywhere among us. I want to read this book again (and again) and slowly, savoring the remarkably moving writing -- Christian McEwen's prose is pure poetry; she has a poet's heart! And yet, it is not just her gift with words that makes this so powerful a book. Her stories ring true and put flesh on the solid social criticism and historical insights contained in the work. Her literary erudition shines through, but with an abiding humility. Most of all, this is a book that goes to the core of our current condition and asks us to reclaim our souls. Its message about time could not be more timely. This is not just a good book. This is a book that should become a classic. --John de Graaf, editor of TAKE BACK YOURTIME and co-author of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic

If one can speak of an elegance of soul, this book reveals it. Furthermore, it is a work crafted over a long time by an author who is also an uncommonly gifted reader, a vade mecum on a literary journey to a profound destination. --Jay Griffiths, author of A SIDEWAYS LOOK AT TIME

If one can speak of an elegance of soul, this book reveals it. Furthermore, it is a work crafted over a long time by an author who is also an uncommonly gifted reader, a vade mecum on a literary journey to a profound destination. --Jay Griffiths, author of A SIDEWAYS LOOK AT TIME

About the Author

Christian McEwen was born in London, England and grew up in the Borders of Scotland. She has edited four anthologies, including Naming the Waves and Jo's Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit & Real Life. She has written for the Nation and the Village Voice, and her poems and essays have been widely published. McEwen has taught poetry, environmental literature and creative writing at a number of different venues, including The Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, Williams College, Smith College, and Lesley University. She has been a fellow, several times, at the Yaddo and MacDowell colonies, and currently lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Bauhan Publishing, LLC; first edition (September 9, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872331466
• ISBN-13: 978-0872331464
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find another Rosie, September 14, 2011

By 

Toke Hoppenbrouwers - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Enough & Time, On Creativity and Slowing Down (Paperback)

This book arrived two days ago. I started to read it and I'm already at page 210. I know I'll continue reading it until deep in the night, once I have had a chance to do my evening hike with my dogs. I want to gobble it up. I realize this is high paced! I love it. I find I can savor it, even if I go fast. I feel very familiar with what CM writes, yet at the same time, so much of what she has to say is new. Delicious!

CM reminds me of the many ways I can be connected with my soul. She blends the personal and the scholarly in a way that the reader feels cared for. I highly recommend her wisdom. World Enough and Time is a great springboard for discussion as well.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly glorious read, September 29, 2011

By 

Toinette Lippe (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: World Enough & Time, On Creativity and Slowing Down (Paperback)

Christian McEwen leads us gently but inexorably toward what we all yearn for--the time and space to simply be. We all have a deep hunger for slowfulness and tranquillity but rarely manage to experience it. She has been enjoying "herself" in this way since childhood and now encourages us to do the same by appreciating our lives in each and every moment. She turns on its head the adage that "it is better to travel hopefully than arrive." Let us share this exquisitely written book with as many people as possible before they all die of exhaustion.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book I've been needing for 18 years, October 24, 2011

By 

Joy Holland (Brooklyn, NY, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: World Enough & Time, On Creativity and Slowing Down (Paperback)

It is a familiar observation that our lives flash by with too little time to savor the gifts of the present moment. Even having read a few books on Buddhism and mindfulness, I was constantly surprised and delighted by "World Enough and Time." It is, if you like, a glowing embroidery stitched around the notion that daydreaming, taking your time, doing things slowly, detaching yourself from the screen, the telephone--taking time for face to face meetings, writing real letters, looking at a painting or a landscape--are essential not only to our creativity but to our very wholeness. Finding inspiration in literature and a wide range of other disciplines, Christian McEwen wears her erudition lightly. Her writing voice is supple and strong as she follows her truths to their innermost parts. She has given me a whole list of other authors I now want to read; and a book that will stay by my bed for a long time to come. This book is a classic of its kind and everyone should read it.