Aristotle considered it the highest order of love, philia, or “friendship love,” in which tending to somebody else’s welfare is central to our own flourishing. Using her own experiences as a starting point, journalist and cultural critic Kate Bolick invites us into her carefully considered, passionately lived life, weaving together the past and present to examine why shealong with over. This is real friendship-the kind that takes another’s soul as seriously as one’s own. So begins Spinster, a revelatory and slyly erudite look at the pleasures and possibilities of remaining single. It is very comforting to see their beaks opening and shutting. A good way to remain on guard is to go to the window and watch the birds for an hour or two or three. When you are so sad that you “cannot work” there is always danger fear will enter in and begin withering around. But I am speaking of a soul that is timid but that longs to be known. You know it has eyes and can see you, and you know how hopefully it watches you. If you deny it hands and a voice, it will continue as it is, alive, but speechless and without hands. It has nobody else and never had anybody else. So begins Spinster, a revelatory and slyly erudite look at the pleasures and possibilities of remaining single. Whom to marry, and when will it happen - these two questions define every woman's existence. But I can think only of a reminder-you are all it has. A bold, original, moving book that will inspire fanatical devotion and ignite debate. I copied it, and it’s now on the board over my desk.” The passage reads: I have been trying to think of the word to say to you that would never fail to lift you up when you are too tired or too sad not be downcast. “Maeve, you wrote this to Tillie Olsen, who treasured it, and had it up on her studio wall.
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