A World Of Light

by Skloot, Floyd

• ISBN13: 9780803243187
• ISBN10: 0803243189
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

In his award-winning memoir In the Shadow of Memory, Floyd Skloot told the hard story of coming to terms with a brain-ravaging virus. A World of Light, written with the same insight, passion, and humor that distinguished the earlier volume, moves Skloot's story from the reassembly of a self after neurological calamity to the reconstruction of a shattered life. More than fifteen years after a viral attack compromised his memory and cognitive powers, Skloot now must do the vital work of recreating a cohesive life for himself even as he confronts the late stages of his mother's advancing dementia. With tenderness and candor, he finds surprising connection with her where it had long been missing, transforming the end of her life into a time of unexpected renewal.At the same time, Skloot and his wife are building a rich new life at the center of a small isolated forest on a hillside in rural Oregon, where a dwindling water supply and the bitter assaults of the weather bring an elemental perspective to his attempts to make himself once more at home in the world. By turns poignant, funny, and frightening, A World of Light balances the urgency to capture fragmented, fleeting memories with the necessity of living fully in the present.Floyd Skloot is the author of ten previous works, including n the Shadow of Memory (available in a Bison Books edition), and the winner of numerous awards, including the 2004 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction and Nonfiction Finalist for the 2003 Barnes and Noble Discover Award. His work has been featured in The Best American Essays, The Best American Science Writing, The Best Spiritual Writing, The Pushcart Prize, and The Art of the Essay.

Author Biography

Floyd Skloot is the author of ten previous works, including In the Shadow of Memory (available in a Bison Books edition), and the winner of numerous awards, including the 2004 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction, Nonfiction Finalist for the 2003 Barnes and Noble Discover Award, and Finalist for the “Art of the Essay” PEN Award. His work has been featured in The Best American Essays, The Best American Science Writing, The Best Spiritual Writing, The Pushcart Prize, and The Art of the Essay.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
part one: We're Here Now
1 The Home	3	(12)
2 We're Here Now	15	(14)
3 Fittings	29	(11)
4 The Melody Lingers On	40	(13)
part two: A Pick to the Heart
5 1957	53	(15)
6 Billy Gardner's Groundout	68	(12)
7 A World of Light	80	(15)
8 A Pick to the Heart	95	(15)
9 The Simple Wisdom	110
part three: Turning Up the Gravity
10 The Seafood Festival Talent Show	127	(13)
11 The Song of the Exhausted Well	140	(13)
12 Thinking in Circles	153	(13)
13 Turning Up the Gravity	166	(13)
14 A Stable State	179	(10)
15 Taking Stock	189