Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life Capa dura - 2008

por Kathleen Norris

Kathleen Norris's masterpiecemoving memoir that resurrects the ancientterm acedia, or soul-weariness, and brilliantlyexplores its relevancy to the modern individualand culture.

Kathleen Norris had written several much loved books,yet she couldn't drag herself out of bed in the morning,couldn't summon the energy for daily tasks. Evenas she struggled, Norris recognized her familiar battlewith acedia. She had discovered the word in an earlyChurch text when she was in her thirties. Havingendured times of deep soul-weariness since she wasa teenager, she immediately recognized that thispassage described her affliction: sinking into a stateof being unable to care. Fascinated by this 'noondaydemon,' so familiar to those in the early and medievalChurch, Norris read intensively and knew she must restorethis forgotten but utterly relevant and importantconcept to the modern world's vernacular.

Like Norris's bestselling The Cloister Walk, Acedia& me is part memoir and part meditation. As in herbestselling Amazing Grace, here Norris explicatesand demystifies a spiritual concept, exploring acediathrough the geography of her life as a writer; her marriageand the challenges of commitment in the midstof grave illness; and her keen interest in the monastictradition. Unlike her earlier books, this one featuresa poignant narrative throughout of Norris's and herhusband's bouts with acedia and its clinical cousin,depression. Moreover, her analysis of acedia revealsits burden not just on individuals but on whole societies and that the 'restless boredom, frantic escapism,commitment phobia, and enervating despair that westruggle with today are the ancient demon of acediain modern dress.'

An examination of acedia in the light of theology,psychology, monastic spirituality, the healing powersof religious practice, and Norris's own experience,Acedia & me is both intimate and historically sweeping,brimming with exasperation and reverence, sometimesfunny, often provocative, and always important.