The lonely city : adventures in the art of being alone

by Olivia Laing

Paper Book, 2016

Status

Checked out

Publication

New York : Picador, 2016.

Description

"You can be lonely anywhere, but there is a particular flavor to the loneliness that comes from living in a city, surrounded by thousands of strangers. The Lonely City is a roving cultural history of urban loneliness, centered on the ultimate city: Manhattan, that teeming island of gneiss, concrete, and glass. What does it mean to be lonely? How do we live, if we're not intimately involved with another human being? How do we connect with other people, particularly if our sexuality or physical body is considered deviant or damaged? Does technology draw us closer together or trap us behind screens? Olivia Laing explores these questions by travelling deep into the work and lives of some of the century's most original artists, among them Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz, Edward Hopper, Henry Darger and Klaus Nomi. Part memoir, part biography, part dazzling work of cultural criticism, The Lonely City is not just a map, but a celebration of the state of loneliness. It's a voyage out to a strange and sometimes lovely island, adrift from the larger continent of human experience, but visited by many - millions, say - of souls"--… (more)

Media reviews

This daring and seductive book — ostensibly about four artists, but actually about the universal struggle to be known — raises sophisticated questions about the experience of loneliness, a state that in a crowded city provides an “uneasy combination of separation and exposure.”

User reviews

LibraryThing member Widsith
In her mid-30s, Olivia Laing moved from England to New York to live with a new boyfriend. The relationship didn't work out, and she found herself stranded on her own in an unfamiliar city, dealing with an almost crippling lack of daily human interaction.

Having spent sizeable chunks of my own life
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being lonely in unfamiliar cities, I immediately liked the idea as well as the melancholy tone of this book. Laing has all kinds of interesting insights to offer on how loneliness manifests itself – but it should be noted that while The Lonely City presents itself as a memoir of this time in her life, under the hood it's really a book of art criticism, examining the life and work of visual artists (mostly) who addressed loneliness as a subject.

Her main case studies are Hopper, Warhol, David Wojnarowicz, Henry Darger and Klaus Nomi, some of whom I had never heard of, but all of whose work emerges in this study as full of the pain and the hypersensitivity of loneliness – infused with (in a phrase she uses about Hopper) ‘an erotics of insufficient intimacy’. Unfortunately it is necessary for the reader to put these references together for themselves, as the book itself is critically short of illustrations.

I loved the memoir bits and thought the criticism bits were only OK, which meant I found the book as a whole a little uneven, though often fascinating. Although Laing has a load of interesting things to say about the artists she discusses, I couldn't shake off the feeling that they sometimes appeared to act as a cover, or safety net, for when talking about herself became too difficult. Tracing Wojnarowicz's nocturnal excursions into the New York gay scene of the 1980s, for instance, leads Laing to a moody consideration of her own sexuality – her sense that she is ‘in the wrong place, in the wrong body, in the wrong life’ – in terms that are first allusive, and finally more direct:

I'd never been comfortable with the demands of femininity, had always felt more like a boy, a gay boy, that I inhabited a gender position somewhere between the binaries of male and female, some impossible other, some impossible both. Trans, I was starting to realise, which isn't to say I was transitioning from one thing to another, but rather that I inhabited a space in the centre, which didn't exist, except there I was.

The narrative really comes alive at these points; but it isn't long before Laing ducks back behind another artist again and retreats, if that's not an unfair word, into more analytic criticism. And again – the criticism was interesting! – I just felt that the art and the memoir got in each other's way as often as they reinforced each other. Which was a shame, because I found her really excellent when concentrating on the life writing – on, for instance, the way loneliness has been mediated, yet in some ways worsened, by the modern online world – especially when it comes to the contradictory impulses that drove her on social media:

I wanted to be in contact and I wanted to retain my anonymity, my private space. I wanted to click and click and click until my synapses exploded, until I was flooded by superfluity. I wanted to hypnotise myself with data, with coloured pixels, to become vacant, to overwhelm any creeping anxious sense of who I actually was, to annihilate my feelings. At the same time I wanted to wake up, to be politically and socially engaged. And then again I wanted to declare my presence, to list my interests and objections, to notify the world that I was still there, thinking with my fingers, even if I'd almost lost the art of speech. I wanted to look and I wanted to be seen, and somehow it was easier to do both via the mediating screen.

Laing's neat summary of the internet – ‘what seemed transient was actually permanent, and what seemed free had already been bought’ – is perhaps a clue to the appeal of the artists she focuses on, who were either far outside any corporate influence or, like Warhol, were making commodification the whole point of their work. Seeing these lonely artists through Laing's gaze is enlightening – but the links and segues are so good that I spent much of the book pining for a straight-up memoir.
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LibraryThing member knightlight777
Wasn't quite sure what to make of this book. The subject matter was certainly interesting. Who hasn't throughout their lives experienced the pain of loneliness. In one form or other to varying degrees or episodes we all have. Never comfortable but it makes us human.

Olivia Laing explores the subject
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while working through her own on the break up of a relationship in the daunting city of New York. While she interjects snippets of her own experience throughout the book her focus is on the lives of various artistic types who seem to exemplify the topic throughout their lives in different yet also similar ways. She places quite a lot of emphasis on social issues such as the struggles of the gay movements and AIDS activism for some reason.

It is hard to see what someone would take from this book other than this feeling is real, everywhere, and part of living for most. The relationship of artists, who are indeed usually different from most of us was puzzling to me. But it could have been I didn't see the message.
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LibraryThing member encephalical
Documentary parts are great. Criticism was less engaging.
LibraryThing member bkinetic
I had to give this low marks based on the author's poor research on B.F. Skinner. Laing claims that Skinner believed that babies should be raised in boxes to keep them away from "the contaminating presence" of their mothers. Not true! Skinner did invent a temperature-controlled crib, but its main
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purpose was to give babies more freedom of movement because they required fewer restricting clothes and bedding. The device also enabled quick changes of the sheets. Skinner described the device in the October, 1945 issue of the Ladies Home Journal. He anticipated the device would give mothers more time to play with their babies because the crib freed the mother from cleaning chores.

Apart from that I found some of the material here on the experience of loneliness interesting, especially its influence on artists and its portrayal in art. I've always been fascinated by Edward Hopper's paintings and therefore appreciated finding out more about him.
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LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
I found reading this book a difficult but immensely rewarding experience. Olivia Laing writes beautifully, with a style that captures and retains the reader’s attention right from the opening paragraph. At the most simple level this is a book that explores the nature and impact of loneliness,
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though it offers so much more than that.

Olivia Laing moved to New York to be with a man with whom she had fallen in love, though shortly after her arrival there the relationship foundered. Her plans left utterly awry she had to find accommodation for herself (which she achieved through a series of sublets from friends of friends of friends, and then try to carve out a new life for herself in a city in which she was a complete outsider. She achieved that, but succumbed at times to a crushing, almost immobilising, loneliness, which led her to research what was merely suspected, and what was actually understood, about that sensation.

Her exegesis of the nature of loneliness is fascinating, and she renders the psychological analyses in a completely accessible manner. It is, however, also heartrendingly sad in places, and there were times when I simply had to stop reading for a while. Such was the power of her writing, however, that after a brief hiatus, I returned agog for more.

Along the way, she also explores the effect of loneliness on the work of several prominent artists, including Edward Hopper, David Wojnarowicz and Andy Warhol, all of whom suffered from crushing loneliness throughout their careers. Laing recapitulates their respective careers with a brisk but engaging analysis, and demonstrates how their early experiences of isolation, disenfranchisement and loneliness contributed to their eventual success. Laing also delivers a brief history of the emergence and eventual diagnosis of AIDS, and the marginalisation that it wrought upon the gay community in the early years after its identification.

A courageous and moving book.
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LibraryThing member mahallett
a strange book. very interesting about andy warhol. the book was mostly about gay men. does she want a sex change so she can have sex with gay men?
LibraryThing member JaredOrlando
As the title implies, this is a book for the lonely, for those trying to understand, and empathize with, those who feel, or seem, isolated and alone. As Laing weaves her narrative around artists and her own personal story, we see what rises from the ashes of seclusion, something that on the surface
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looks confident and secure can be otherwise. Loneliness is not in itself a terrible thing. In fact, it can be beautiful and fulfilling. But what the Lonely City does is take us through the streets of those tucked away, who show loneliness through art, something we take for granted when all we see is bright shiny neon and dark crimson brushes of acrylic.
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LibraryThing member missizicks
Laing's book mixes her own experience of loneliness with her attempts to understand it. She discusses psychological theories about the condition and also examines the work of artists who seem to embody loneliness in their art. It's a beautiful book, full of insight, kindness, sorrow and love.
LibraryThing member KimMeyer
This isn't badly written, but it wasn't compelling for me. It's mostly about a handful of artists and the idea of a sense of loneliness in their lives and work seems a bit forced. The memoirish bits about the author are really not interesting. It all seems a little disjointed and just was not what
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I was expecting.
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LibraryThing member RmCox38111
Listening to Loneliness

Olivia Laing shares an antidote for loneliness in her absorbing 2016 reflection on disconnection The Lonely City. She catalogs multiple varieties of loneliness expressed through the art and artists whose footsteps she followed in her solitarily roaming of the streets of New
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York City. Part memoir and part art history, this collection of short biographies explores humanity’s eternal striving for connection while inspiring my own reflections on empathy for loneliness.

The well-documented role of connection to others, and if you like, connection to a god, shared human consciousness, the laws of the universe, or ancestors in wellness cannot be overstated. Laing’s stories of Hopper, Darger, Wojnarowicz, and Warhol provide perspective about the search for connection through art. Beginning with Hopper’s Nighthawks and ending with the dangers of the Internet Laing touches on themes useful when listening to the loneliness of our fellows. Loneliness seems to be at heart of much mental illness. So, for professional listeners, including mental health counselors, these stories can help provide a foundation for understanding the isolation of human pain.

However, there is room for additional work on this topic. While Laing does a nice job exploring the search for connection with others she leaves the connection with one's self alone. It struck me through all of these stories each of the artists were really in search of acceptance from themselves, even as they reached to others for solace. My experience of disconnection, honed over 30 years of slowly eroding self-enforced isolation, provides a foundation for empathy useful in many professional situations.

Listening to loneliness is a humbling activity with many practical applications. I am grateful to Laing for her work and for the reflections provoked while reading this book. The Lonely City is a book for those who appreciate non-conformity, art history, good writing, and connecting to disconnected selves and fellows. It has a place on the bookshelf of every counselor.
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LibraryThing member jpsnow
This book is even more timely than when it was published in 2016, when we were already realizing the ironic loneliness of our intensely connected world. With content about masks, plagues and homelessness, The Lonely City is an even more fitting exploration of our society of 2021 amidst the current
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pandemic. Laing explored the topic of loneliness during a period of living alone in a series of sublet apartments in New York City. She found that several artists, including Warhol and Hopper, had relevant stories to help us understand. Laing is a capable writer and seems to bring out the most interesting ideas from her deep, first-hand exploration.
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LibraryThing member viviennestrauss
An excellent book, well-researched, personal and accessible. I can imagine this book in future editions should have another section on the covid pandemic.
LibraryThing member tuusannuuska
I've been reading this over the course of three years which is some kind of a personal record. This is definitely the kind of book that calls for a certain mood, at least for me.

I made some notes on the first couple of chapters when I first started reading this in 2018, and at the time I enjoyed
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Olivia's personal accounts of her own experience a lot more than the deep dives into the different artists. I especially disliked Hopper. However, now that I read the last handful of chapters at the beginning of 2021, the tables had turned. Or maybe it just so happened that the artists were much more to my liking.

Whatever the case may be, what began as a pretty lackluster experience, ended on a much more positive note. The accounts were interesting and pulled me in, and I actually even teared up a little at one point.

This is a pretty sharp look at loneliness and all it brings with it. There were times where I felt annoyed or agitated because the observations were less than flattering, but still so spot on. Kind of forces you to accept some uncomfortable truths.
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LibraryThing member mykl-s
Being alone may of may not mean being lonely. Feeling lonely doesn't necessarily mean we are alone. Laing explores all of this.
LibraryThing member caedocyon
I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this book, but it was excellent. A really good Yom Kippur read, all about the constant struggle to connect, the inevitable pain and damage of failing to be understood, the beauty of trying anyway, the healing power of art, and the universality of decline,
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death, and grief. IDK I'm not a writer, Laing is though. I highlighted so many passages that I want to return to. Highly recommend.
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Awards

Language

Original publication date

2016

Physical description

315 p.; 22 cm

ISBN

9781250039576
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