The Thing Itself
The Thing Itself is cultural criticism with a difference. The author knows full well that he is a member in good standing of the culture he criticizes. Todd casts a gimlet-eyed gaze on a world where everything - from refrigerators to adventure safaris to presidential candidates - claims to be the "real thing." And he looks with equal skepticism on his own follies and illusions as a citizen of that world, himself longing for the elusive prize of authenticity.
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A deeply personal literary memoir that explores what it means to live an authentic life in an increasingly detached and self-conscious world.Incited by the feeling that the essence of the modern world is buried beneath the distractions of hype and melodrama, cultural critic Richard Todd began a personal search for authenticity, that elusive quality we often seek but seldom find. In The Thing Itself, Todd attempts to discover for himself a new way of thinking by asking the simple question: What is true in ourselves and the world around us?With an exquisite eye for detail and an inquisitive spirit, Todd launches into an involving and elegantly crafted investigation of what makes an authentically lived life. As he focuses on an array of exchanges with people, objects, places, and ideas—from the banal to the emotionally poignant—Todd shows us that there's a great distance between what we can touch, feel, and see, and what interactions mean in our lives. Mining a rich and multifaceted store of modern philosophy and personal experiences, he inches closer to seeing himself and the world through a clearer set of eyes.Engaging and readable, The Thing Itself offers unexpected insights into the very human search for meaning in our lives. The Washington Post - Nora Krug Todd's provocative meditation on contemporary life…[is] grounded in the work of philosophers and cultural observers from Thoreau and Trilling to Michael Pollan and David Brooks…his eloquence, intelligence and self-effacing manner—one might even call it authenticity—more than make up for any affectations.
Pt. I The Things of This World1 The Lure of the Old 32 Status 173 The Tears of Things 394 Objets d'Art 42Pt. II There, There1 Touring 572 The Country 693 Preservation 844 Two American Places 895 My Mall 986 Refuge 103Pt. III Weeping Nation1 The Greening 1252 Celebrity 1313 Unreal 1394 Weeping Nation 1595 Sincerity 167Pt. IV The Unicorn in the Looking Glass1 Reflection 1892 Not Ideas about the Thing ... 1913 Memory 1944 Self and Selves 2085 In the Moment 2266 One's Fate 240Acknowledgments 245Bibliography 249
\ Nora KrugTodd's provocative meditation on contemporary life…[is] grounded in the work of philosophers and cultural observers from Thoreau and Trilling to Michael Pollan and David Brooks…his eloquence, intelligence and self-effacing manner—one might even call it authenticity—more than make up for any affectations.\ —The Washington Post\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsIn his first book, magazine journalist Todd (Creative Writing/Goucher Coll.) investigates what it means to be "real" in a world that feels increasingly fabricated, polished and marketed. Duped into buying an antique New England box that turns out to be an (excellent) fake, the author anchors his essays in the disappointment he felt and his bemused interest in that disappointment. The topic of "authenticity" and why we cherish it is impossibly broad, but Todd acknowledges this fact. In brief, meditative chapters, he is by turns thoughtful, self-mocking, irascible and insightful, all the while steering the reader not toward an answer, but through a series of questions nested like Russian dolls. Why are we offended by painted reproductions of famous paintings but not by posters of them? Why do tourists buy guidebooks promising an authentic-i.e., non-tourist-experience? Where does this pervasive sense of unreality come from, and why do we care about it? Why do we consume so much so feverishly and yet denigrate that which we consume as "only things?" The meandering queries are given form by scenes from the author's life. He draws on his past as a middle-class child in one of the wealthiest suburbs in America, on his failed attempt to create a working farm, on his restoration (or is it reproduction?) of a late-18th-century Cape house, on a trip to Disney World and Epcot, and even on what appears to be a constant, furious, private dialogue with the evening news. An elegant, affectionate and sometimes cranky depiction of a very confused state of affairs. Agent: Betsy Lerner/Dunow, Carlson & Lerner\ \
