Anxious Am I? A Pseudo-Memoir with Some Fiction and a Bit of Truth
Ebook
Following a lifetime rooted in family, schools, culture, and psychotherapy, provoked by the query of a daughter concerning the presence of anxiety in my life, this memoir pursues the presence of anxiety in life and seeks in some context for the concerns with which the author has lived for three-quarters of a century. In the reflections from these situations and influences, he works his way back to stories of personal origin and growth. He has sauntered through persistent issues with which he has been engaged throughout his life, and he has made a few pronouncements, some of which might even ring true. Within these pages, a little wisdom may even be found. And hopefully, with some love and concern, he has responded to the challenging question, "Do you have anxiety?"
“Brimming with erudition and cultural touchstones, Alan Block’s
autobiographical work grapples with how to find meaning in the past
and how that meaning informs the present and creates the future.
It’s at once a memoir, a work of literary analysis, and, in its
courageous honesty, a rendering of psychotherapeutic revelation.
. . . Ultimately, this book tracks the intricate
processes of memory and thought in an attentive, compassionate, and
singular mind.”
—David Wasser, clinical psychologist
“Even if you’re not interested in learning the life history of one
of the most important curriculum-studies scholars alive today; even
if you’re not interested in reading about a young man’s
coming-of-age in 1960s New York City; even if you didn’t attend
Roanoke College or feed a feral black cat, . . . still
you will want to read this book. Why? Because the writing is
gorgeous. Sensual, even sumptuous; melodic; meandering; yes,
musical. Bravo!”
—William F. Pinar, University of British Columbia
“It is wonderful to saunter down paths of anxiety with Alan Block.
They disappear under our feet as he first tentatively and then
gloriously celebrates his love of the world. He finds it in ‘the
sacred that inheres in daily life’ and in the music, literature,
and philosophy that are his culture, not an isolated social or
aesthetic practice but a language for feeling that informs his life
and this memoir.”
—Madeleine Grumet, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,
emerita
“Brimming with erudition and cultural touchstones, Alan Block’s
autobiographical work grapples with how to find meaning in the past
and how that meaning informs the present and creates the future.
It’s at once a memoir, a work of literary analysis, and, in its
courageous honesty, a rendering of psychotherapeutic revelation.
. . . Ultimately, this book tracks the intricate
processes of memory and thought in an attentive, compassionate, and
singular mind.”
—David Wasser, clinical psychologist
“Even if you’re not interested in learning the life history of one
of the most important curriculum-studies scholars alive today; even
if you’re not interested in reading about a young man’s
coming-of-age in 1960s New York City; even if you didn’t attend
Roanoke College or feed a feral black cat, . . . still
you will want to read this book. Why? Because the writing is
gorgeous. Sensual, even sumptuous; melodic; meandering; yes,
musical. Bravo!”
—William F. Pinar, University of British Columbia
“It is wonderful to saunter down paths of anxiety with Alan Block.
They disappear under our feet as he first tentatively and then
gloriously celebrates his love of the world. He finds it in ‘the
sacred that inheres in daily life’ and in the music, literature,
and philosophy that are his culture, not an isolated social or
aesthetic practice but a language for feeling that informs his life
and this memoir.”
—Madeleine Grumet, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,
emerita
- Title: Anxious Am I? A Pseudo-Memoir with Some Fiction and a Bit of Truth
- Author: Alan A. Block
- Publisher: Resource Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666793338, 9781666793352, 9781666793345, 1666793337, 1666793353, 1666793345
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666793338
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T19:58:42Z
Alan A. Block has taught English for eighteen years in high
schools and in the Department of Education for twenty-eight years
at the university level. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the
University of Wisconsin-Stout. He is the author of ten books and
dozens of articles and book chapters. He is most proudly the father
of two beautiful daughters whose queries provoked the writing of
this memoir.