5/29/2023 0 Comments Having and being had by eula biss![]() ![]() She retains firm control over her own lines of inquiry, but - fittingly for a critique of capitalism’s warped and warping individualism - she allows others to amplify or shape her thinking.Biss drives the story forward, but she isn’t alone at the wheel. But Biss takes that sense of collaboration further than most. It’s not uncommon for essayists to be 'in conversation' with writers (like Didion) who came before them. In both her scrutiny and her style, Biss implies that the only way to address our complicity is full transparency. What guides her writing is careful attention to language and behavior, cause and effect. She is not afraid to disclose personal details, but she isn’t writing memoir she is illustrating points. Biss’ works of nonfiction expand the definition of personal essays. If there is not an exact category for this type of book, that’s by design. This allows her to explore the candid ways we reveal our own biases around money, class, wealth, property and work. Loose in its greater arc but always tethered to an awareness of the insidious influence of capitalism, each essay originates in conversation or personal observation. A middle-age, middle-class white American writer and professor, Biss lays bare her own privilege from the start. ![]() Bliss enlivens her own critique of capital in the 2020s by delving into the trouble we all avoid discussing - and then staying with it. ![]()
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