Sloth: The Seven Deadly Sins (New York Public Library Lectures in Humanities) - Hardcover

Wasserstein, Wendy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195166302 ISBN 13: 9780195166309

Publisher: OUP USA, 2005

Synopsis

Here is a rollicking parody of the self-help genre, one that skewers the couch-bound, apathetic mentality so pervasive in America today.
With tongue in cheek, Sloth guides readers step-by-step toward a life of noncommittal inertia. "You have the right to be lazy," writes Wasserstein. "You can choose not to respond. You can choose not to move." Readers will find out the importance of Lethargiosis―the process of eliminating energy and drive, the vital first step in becoming a sloth. To help you attain the perfect state of indolent bliss, the book offers a wealth of self-help aids. Readers will find the sloth songbook, sloth breakfast bars (packed with sugar, additives, and a delicious touch of Ambien), sloth documentaries (such as the author's 12-hour epic on Thomas Aquinas), and the sloth network, channel 823, programming guaranteed not to stimulate or challenge in any way. ("It may be difficult to distinguish between this and other channels, but only on channel 823 can you watch me sleeping.") Readers will also learn the top ten lies about Sloth, the ten commandments of Sloth, the SLOTH mantra, even the "too-much ten"―over-achievers such as Marie Curie, Shakespeare, and William the Conqueror. You will discover how to become a sloth in your diet, exercise, work, and even love-life (true love leads to passion, she warns, and passion is the biggest enemy of sloth).
Wendy Wasserstein is one of America's great comic writers―one who always has a serious point to her humor. Here, as she pokes fun at the self-help industry, she also satirizes the legion of Americans who are cultural and political sloths.

About this title

Review:

'Simon Blackburn on lust and Joseph Epstein on envy have produced little classics: written, researched and argued exemplarily, they take their topics seriously but discuss them with elegance and humour as well as insight. Francine Prose on gluttony joins them at the top of the list with a kind and thoughtful meditation.'

About the Author:

Wendy Wasserstein is the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of The Heidi Chronicles, which also won a Tony Award. Her other plays include The Sisters Rosensweig, Uncommon Women and Others, Isn't It Romantic, and An American Daughter. She is also the author of Shiksa Goddess. She lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0195166302
• ISBN 13: 9780195166309
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 136