{"product_id":"worthy-of-the-event-an-essay-by-vivian-blaxell","title":"Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell","description":"\u003cp\u003eA trans essayist with a checkered past takes on the big questions of human existence\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMove over Michel de Montaigne, there's a new girl in town\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eABA Indie Next Pick - \u003ci\u003eVulture \u003c\/i\u003eBest Book of 2025 So Far - \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003estarred review - \u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle \u003c\/i\u003eWomen's History Month Book Pick - Allstora Queer History 101 Book Club Pick - \u003ci\u003eVol. 1 Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e April 2025 Book of the Month\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet against a backdrop of trans life that begins with her own transition in the 1960s, Vivian Blaxell takes us on a witty and expansive sweep through history, from Australia to Japan, to Hawai'i to Mexico, to heretofore unmapped regions of the mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn seven devastatingly intelligent parts, her essay covers a vast range in time and space -- from the arson of a Japanese temple to a transformative encounter with a coral reef, from Nietzsche and Hegel to Indigenous metaphysics, from a perplexing relationship with a beautiful man to the unknowable minds of animals. Fleshy and philosophical, searching and exalted, utterly distinctive and assured, \u003ci\u003eWorthy of the Event\u003c\/i\u003e belatedly establishes Vivian Blaxell as one of the major writers of her generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Astonishing ... confident, nimble ... teeming with wonder and wicked humor ... readers craving a break from the mundane will be grateful Blaxell has shared these stunning explorations.\" --\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Incredible ... Blaxell unspools a devastating meditation on life ... From beginning to end, \u003ci\u003eWorthy of the Event\u003c\/i\u003e is funny as hell, writing as transcendent as it is human. I laughed out loud. I cried at the end.\" \u003ci\u003e--The Rumpus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Sharp and amusingly tart ... contain[s] a whole library of experience.\" \u003ci\u003e--\u003c\/i\u003eTorrey Peters, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A moving and brilliant exploration of trans life since the '60s ... electrified, searching ... \u003ci\u003eWorthy of the Event\u003c\/i\u003e reads like a conversation with one of your smartest, most self-aware friends. What a pleasure to discover the world through Blaxell's eyes.\" \u003ci\u003e-\u003c\/i\u003eIsle McElroy, \u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"It takes a lot to impress a jaded old soul like me. But reading Vivian Blaxell I think: Wow! \u003ci\u003eWorthy of the Event\u003c\/i\u003e tracks the multi-dimensionality of consciousness as the author moves through gendered spheres of pleasure, strife, disappointment, hilarity. Always at the core of her personal is an empathetic participation in the plights of all species. Blaxell's blunt, elegant sentences are thoroughly modern, yet they exude a depth that speaks to previous centuries. I see her as a sort of 21st century Proust committed to TMI. \"My vagina is not a good judge of character.\" This is what writing should look like. This is what writing should do.\"--Dodie Bellamy, author of \u003ci\u003eBee Reaved\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ 296 pages\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Bookish Type","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55925228929405,"sku":null,"price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/0891\/0933\/files\/9781964322995.jpg?v=1746188865","url":"https:\/\/thebookishtype.pro\/products\/worthy-of-the-event-an-essay-by-vivian-blaxell","provider":"The Bookish Type","version":"1.0","type":"link"}