The Art of the Wasted Day by Patricia Hampl

The Art of the Wasted Day by Patricia Hampl

Modern life only seems to become increasingly hectic and stressful, as we try to cram more into each day. In her sparkling new book, acclaimed author Patricia Hampl argues for the necessity of daydreaming and leisure in our over-amped lives.

Written out of a lifelong fascination with contemplation, solitude, and silence, The Art of the Wasted Day is a picturesque travelogue of leisure. Hampl visits to the homes of several exemplars of leisure from the past, who made repose and seclusion their goal, indeed their art form. She braids her own life stories into these pilgrimages- lazing her days away as a young girl, daydreaming under a beechnut tree; undertaking a retreat at a Benedictine monastery; floating down the Mississippi River in an old cabin cruiser boat, a "sheer, dreamy waste of time" that turns out, after all of her international questing, to be the greatest travel experience of her life.

The job of being human, Hampl suggests, is getting lost in thought, and only leisure can safeguard reflection. The Art of the Wasted Day is a timely, compelling, beautifully written celebration of the purpose and appeal of letting go.

Patricia Hampl first stepped onto the literary scene with A Romantic Education, a Cold War memoir about her Czech heritage. Four of her books have been named Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review. Hampl's work has appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, Granta, The American Scholar, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays. In 1990 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. In addition, she has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Bush Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts (twice, in poetry and prose), Ingram Merrill Foundation and Djerassi Foundation. Hampl teaches fall semesters in the English MFA program at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780525429647
ISBN 10	0525429646
Title	The Art of the Wasted Day
Author	Patricia Hampl
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2018-04-19
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.