Composing a LifeMary Catherine Bateson has been called "one of the most original and important thinkers of our time" (Deborah Tannen). Grove Press is pleased to reissue Bateson's deeply satisfying treatise on the improvisational lives of five extraordinary women. Using their personal stories as her framework, Dr. Bateson delves into the creative potential of the complex lives we live today, where ambitions are constantly refocused on new goals and possibilities. With balanced sympathy and a candid approach to what makes these women inspiring, examples of the newly fluid movement of adaptation--their relationships with spouses, children, and friends, their ever-evolving work, and their gender--Bateson shows us that life itself is a creative process. "Well-formulated and passionate ... Offers nothing less than a radical rethinking of the concept of achievement." -- San Francisco Chronicle "Fascinating ... A masterwork of rare breadth and particularity." -- The Boston Globe |
Contents
EMERGENT VISIONS | xi |
IN THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS | 15 |
FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH | 31 |
OPENING TO THE WORLD | 53 |
PARTNERSHIPS | 71 |
GIVE AND TAKE | 90 |
MAKING AND KEEPING | 114 |
CARETAKING | 134 |
MULTIPLE LIVES | 158 |
VICISSITUDES OF COMMITMENT | 183 |
FITS AND STARTS | 208 |
ENRICHING THE EARTH | 228 |
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Common terms and phrases
achievement adult Alice Alice's American Amherst College asked baby Barkev Bateson became become career caretaking caring child childhood collaboration colleagues combine commitment complementarity continuity creative culture discontinuities Ellen emergency experience faculty father feel forms friends gender Gregory Bateson Hamadan homeless homemaking household human husband ideas improvisation individual institution involved Iran Iranian Iranian revolution Jack Jack's Johnnetta Johnnetta Cole Julian Gibbs kind kitchen lives look male Margaret Mead marriage married Mary Catherine Bateson ment metaphors mother move multiple never nurture parents patients Pine Street Inn possible president problem professional rela relationships responsibility Rise Technology role sense sexism shared shelter single society someone Spelman Spelman College spent struggle Susan Butcher talked tasks teaching things tion traditional Vanni vision woman women young