Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life

360 Pages·2008·32.626 MB·English

by  Kathleen Norris

1
Bestselling author of
TKHE CALOISTTER WHALKLand AEMAZIENG GNRACE
NORRIS
arriage,
nks, an
A Writer's
Life
InAcedia & me, the acclaimed author Kathleen
Norris explicates and demystifies the forgotten
bututterlyrelevantconceptofacedia,atermthat
has oftenbeenunderstood as spiritual sloth,but
really signifies the serious malady ofbeing un-
able to care.
With great insight and candor, Norris ex-
plores acedia through the geography ofher life
as a writer; her marriage and the challenges of
commitment in the midst ofgrave illness; and
her keen interest in the monastic tradition. She
writes of her and her husband David's battles
with acedia and its clinical cousin, depression,
and traces acedia's path through literary and
religioushistory,exposingthedamageitdoesnot
onlytoindividuallivesbutalsotoourcultureasa
whole,aswearedesensitizedbyevermoreintru-
sivedistractionsandlosetheabilitytocareabout
what is trulyimportant.Thus, she finds thatthe
"restlessboredom,franticescapism,commitment
phobia, andenervatingdespair"thatwe struggle
with today are "the ancient demon ofacedia in
moderndress."
Norris first encountered the word acedia
in The Praktikos, a book by the fourth-century
Christian monk Evagrius Ponticus. "As I read
this,"shewrites,"Ifeltaweightliftfrommysoul,
forI hadjust discovered an accurate description
ofsomething that had plagued me foryears but
that I had never been able to name." Having
endured times ofdeep soul-weariness since she
was a teenager, she could now recognize her
affliction: sinking into a state of being unable
to care. Fascinatedbythis "noonday demon," so
well known to those in the early and medieval
Church, Norris read intensively and knew that
she must restore this important concept to the
modern world's vernacular, as she saw that left
uncheckedithasthepowertodestroythecapacity
forjoyandtoundermine commitments towork,
marriage,friendship,faith,andcommunity.
(Continuedon backflap)

&
me
Acedia
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://archive.org/details/acediamemarriageOOnorr
Otherbooksby Kathleen Noms
NONFICTION
TheVirginofBennington
AmazingGrace:A VocabularyofFaith
TheCloisterWalk
Dakota:ASpiritualGeography
POETRY
Journey:NewandSelectedPoems 1969-1999
LittleGirlsin Church
TheMiddleoftheWorld
FallingOff
ANTHOLOGY
LeavingNewYork: WritersLookBack (editor)
jmShm*. L **$\
RIVERHEAD BOOKS
amemberofPenguin Group (USA)Inc.
NewYork 2008
&
me
Acedia
A MARRIAGE, MONKS, AND
A WRITER'S LIFE
KATHLEEN NORRIS
RIVERHEADBOOKS
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Copyright©2008byKathleenNorris
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ISBN978-1-59448-996-9
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