Approaching eye level

The author of the highly praised Fierce Attachments explores the fear of loneliness and the search for self-knowledge. Many of us, especially women, find ourselves struggling with both the desire for independence and meaningful work and the need for connections with others. In Approaching Eye Level, Gornick addresses this painful, central issue in our lives, showing us how we can come to know ourselves only by participating in the world This Collection Of Brave Personal Essays Finds A Quintessentially Contemporary Woman (urban, Single, Feminist) Trying To Observe Herself And The World Without Sentiment, Cynicism, Or Nostalgia. Whether Walking Along The Streets Of New York Or Teaching Writing At A University, She Is A Woman Exploring Her Need For Conversation And Connection - With Men And Women, Colleagues And Strangers. She Recalls Her Stint As A Waitress In The Catskills And A Failed Friendship With An Older Woman And Mentor; She Reconsiders Her Experiences In The Feminist Movement, While Living Alone, And In Marriage. Turning Her Sharp Eye On Herself, Gornick Struggles To See Her Part In Things - How She Has Both Welcomed And Avoided Contact, And How These Attempts At Connections Have Enlivened And, At Times, Defeated Her. Unrelentingly Honest, Her Essays Remind Us That We Can Come To Know Ourselves Only By Engaging Fully With The World. 1. On The Street: Nobody Watches, Everyone Performs -- 2. The Catskills Remembered -- 3. What Feminism Means To Me -- 4. Tribute -- 5. At The University: Little Murders Of The Soul -- 6. On Living Alone -- 7. On Letter Writing. Vivian Gornick. [approaching Eye Level Is] About The Day-to-day Struggle To Face Down The Brutality Of Growing Loneliness, To Accept The Limitations Of Friendship And Intimacy, To Honor The Process Of Becoming Oneself. . . . Vivian Gornick's Strength Lies In Her Refusal To Give Up.-mary Hawthorne, The New York Times