The lonely city
by Olivia Laing · first published 2016
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1recommended by
3HN commenters
2018–2024first – last mentioned
33% recommend67% neutral
"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 scree
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Just tried 'lonely' and it returned Olivia Laing's The Lonely City, which I read a few years ago and loved... I'm now going to read it again.. thanks!
on “Show HN: I made a books recommendation app based on your mood” ↗I recently read a nonfiction book called The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone [1], which talks about the interplay between solitude, loneliness, and creativity. The author talks about loneliness and solitude in her own life and she examines…
on “Solitude appears to have an image problem in Japan” ↗I first learnt about Henry Darger in Olivia Laing's The Lonely City. It is a first-hand account of the psychological effects of loneliness and isolation. The author draws parallels between her own experience and that of other artists like Darger, and describes the way…
on “Henry Darger” ↗