Against Love: A Polemic (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780375719325)

A polemic against love that is "engagingly acerbic ... extremely funny.... A deft indictment of the marital ideal, as well as a celebration of the dissent that constitutes adultery, delivered in pointed daggers of prose" (The New Yorker).

Who would dream of being against love? No one. Love is, as everyone knows, a mysterious and all-controlling force, with vast power over our thoughts and life decisions.

But is there something a bit worrisome about all this uniformity of opinion? Is this the one subject about which no disagreement will be entertained, about which one truth alone is permissible? Consider that the most powerful organized religions produce the occasional heretic; every ideology has its apostates; even sacred cows find their butchers. Except for love.

Hence the necessity for a polemic against it. A polemic is designed to be the prose equivalent of a small explosive device placed under your E-Z-Boy lounger. It won't injure you (well not severely); it's just supposed to shake things up and rattle a few convictions.

Author: Laura Kipnis
ISBN-10: 0375719326
ISBN-13: 9780375719325
Publisher: Vintage
Language: English
Published: 09/14/2004
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.12h x 5.00w x 0.59d

Review Citation(s):
Books & Culture 09/01/2004 pg. 19
New York Times 10/10/2004 pg. 26