{"product_id":"subtle-gravity-9781869144760","title":"Subtle Gravity","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat is addiction? Who is an addict, and why? Are we only addicted to substances, or also to patterns of thought: self-loathing, doubt, obsessive thinking, and perhaps even silence?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSubtle Gravity\u003c\/i\u003e, like Praeg's first novel, \u003ci\u003eImitation\u003c\/i\u003e, departs from the assumption that we are all addicts. We all struggle with being alone. Taking as a point of departure an extreme form of addiction – a commitment to the silence we know precedes the violence that language imposes on us – \u003ci\u003eSubtle Gravity\u003c\/i\u003e maps a possible way back from addiction through a playful engagement with Buddhism, Christian mysticism and, of course, \u003ci\u003eStar Wars\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003ci\u003eSubtle Gravity\u003c\/i\u003e is a complex interplay between philosophy and fiction, at once a novel and philosophical meditation on the \"self\", and madness and hallucination in both Eastern and Western philosophies. In a subtle and compelling way, it delves into the political history of white South Africa, privilege and the political unconscious of Pretoria through a beguiling and whimsical interplay of texts, philosophies and films. The result is fascinating, wonderful, astute and masterly – and even better than the stunning and compelling Imitation.' — Joan Hambidge, Hofmeyr Chair for Afrikaans and Netherlandic Studies, University of Cape Town\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003ci\u003eSubtle Gravity\u003c\/i\u003e is a wonderful \"novel of thought\", which, through Praeg's vast intertextuality, extends our appreciation of how to think. In an ingenious melange of Buddhist notions of \"rebirth\" and Origen's doctrine of pre-existing souls that enter the world in search of redemption, characters are \"reborn\" into \u003ci\u003eSubtle Gravity\u003c\/i\u003e. One cannot fully escape the sense that Milan Kundera has been \"reborn\" in South Africa. It is a brilliant novel, even better than the excellent Imitation, and restores dignity to thinking in a way that only the novel can.'— Jason M. Wirth, Department of Philosophy, Seattle University, and author of \u003ci\u003eCommiserating with Devastated Things: Milan Kundera and the Entitlements of Thinking\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"University of KwaZulu-Natal Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51360223035735,"sku":"9781869144760","price":20.76,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781869144760.jpg?v=1754127031","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/subtle-gravity-9781869144760","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}