Humiliation

BIG IDEAS//small books

Wayne Koestenbaum

Picador

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Wayne Koestenbaum considers the meaning of humiliation in this eloquent work of cultural critique and personal reflection.

The lives of people both famous and obscure are filled with scarlet-letter moments when their dirty laundry sees daylight. In these moments we not only witness the reversibility of “success,” of prominence, but also come to visceral terms with our own vulnerable selves. We can’t stop watching the scene of shame, identifying with it and absorbing its nearness, and relishing our imagined immunity from its stain, even as we acknowledge the universal, embarrassing predicament of living in our own bodies. With an unusual, disarming blend of autobiography and cultural commentary, noted poet and critic Wayne Koestenbaum takes us through a spectrum of mortifying circumstances—in history, literature, art, current events, music, film, and his own life. His generous disclosures and brilliant observations go beyond prurience to create a poetics of abasement. Inventive, poignant, erudite, and playful, Humiliation plunges into one of the most disquieting of human experiences, with reflections at once emboldening and humane.

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Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series

With an unusual, disarming blend of autobiography and cultural commentary, noted poet and critic Wayne Koestenbaum takes us through a spectrum of mortifying circumstances—in history, literature, art, current events, music, film, and his own life. His generous disclosures and brilliant observations go beyond prurience to create a poetics of abasement.

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Fat or Pregnant?

From the Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series, by Wayne Koestenbaum.

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Private Moment, YouTube Star

From the Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series, by Wayne Koestenbaum.

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Book Party Faux Pas

From the Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series, by Wayne Koestenbaum.

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Farted in Yoga

From the Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series, by Wayne Koestenbaum.

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Embarrassing Email Mistakenly Sent

From the Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series, by Wayne Koestenbaum.

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Hot Date, Cold Sore

From the Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series, by Wayne Koestenbaum.

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Shy Coworker, Dirty Movies

From the Dear Wayne, I've Been Humiliated: Web Series, by Wayne Koestenbaum.

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Reviews

Praise for Humiliation

“This literary ‘topping from the bottom’ is the funniest, smartest, most heartbreaking yet powerful book I’ve read in a long time.” —John Waters

“Humiliation runs like a rash over the body of all of Wayne Koestenbaum’s work; here, he directly addresses the feeling, and the result is one of my favorite recent books: psychologically astute, verbally pyrotechnic, bottomlessly provocative, surprisingly funny, and immensely sad. An extraordinary meditation on nothing less than—I don’t know how else to say it—the human condition.” —David Shields, author of Reality Hunger

In the Press

HUMILIATION by Wayne KoestenbaumKirkus Book Reviews
Read the Kirkus Review of HUMILIATION . A series of meditations on the concept of humiliation.
- Kirkus Reviews

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About the Author

Wayne Koestenbaum

WAYNE KOESTENBAUM has published five books of poetry, one novel, and six books of nonfiction. A graduate of Harvard and Princeton, he is a distinguished professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center and also a visiting professor in the painting department of the Yale School of Art.

Wayne Koestenbaum

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Available Formats and Book Details

Humiliation
BIG IDEAS//small books
Wayne Koestenbaum

Trade Paperback

Trade Paperback
Picador
August 2011
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780312429225
ISBN10: 0312429223
4 1/2 x 7 1/8 inches, 192 pages, Includes 7 black-and-white photographs throughout
$15.00
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e-Book Agency
Picador
August 2011
e-Book Agency
ISBN: 9781429977289
ISBN10: 1429977280
192 pages, Includes 7 black-and-white photographs throughout
$9.99
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