Pathemata
Or, The Story of My Mouth
Published on 14. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
80 pages
978-1-5299-5136-3 (ISBN)
Description
A profound and deeply personal exploration of pain, the body and loss by the beloved author of Bluets and The Argonauts
'Full of warmth, wisdom and weirdness' JENNY MUSTARD
This is a dreamlike portrait of a body in struggle to connect with itself and others. As the narrator contends with chronic pain, and with a pandemic raging in the background, she sets out to examine the literal and symbolic role of the mouth in the life of a writer.
Pathemata recounts the narrator's tragicomic search to alleviate her suffering, a search that eventually becomes a reckoning with various forms of loss - the loss of intimacy, the loss of her father and the loss of a pivotal friend and mentor. In exacting, distilled prose, her account blurs the lines between embodied, unconscious and everyday life.
Praise for Maggie Nelson
'I remember where I was when I read each of Maggie Nelson's books in the same way I remember a place where I heard important news' ANNE ENRIGHT
'Always brilliant' GEOFF DYER
'Among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation' OLIVIA LAING
'Full of warmth, wisdom and weirdness' JENNY MUSTARD
This is a dreamlike portrait of a body in struggle to connect with itself and others. As the narrator contends with chronic pain, and with a pandemic raging in the background, she sets out to examine the literal and symbolic role of the mouth in the life of a writer.
Pathemata recounts the narrator's tragicomic search to alleviate her suffering, a search that eventually becomes a reckoning with various forms of loss - the loss of intimacy, the loss of her father and the loss of a pivotal friend and mentor. In exacting, distilled prose, her account blurs the lines between embodied, unconscious and everyday life.
Praise for Maggie Nelson
'I remember where I was when I read each of Maggie Nelson's books in the same way I remember a place where I heard important news' ANNE ENRIGHT
'Always brilliant' GEOFF DYER
'Among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation' OLIVIA LAING
Reviews / Votes
'Among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation' -- Olivia Laing 'One of the most unique voices in non-fiction: enquiring, political, lyrically dazzling, empathetic' -- Sinead Gleeson 'Always brilliant' -- Geoff Dyer 'Her words come as though from a great distance and strike incredibly close' -- Anne Enright 'Maggie Nelson shows us what it means to be real, offering a way of thinking that is as challenging as it is liberating' -- Eula Biss 'Maggie Nelson who writes with such passion, clarity, explicitness, fluidity, playfulness and generosity that she redefines what thinking can do today' -- Wayne Koestenbaum In Pathemata, Nelson somehow manages to write with perfect emotional pitch: its melancholia balanced with humour, its moments of grief and pain tempered by joy. Full of warmth, wisdom and weirdness, it is bound to become a classic. I adored it -- Jenny MustardMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 125 mm
Width: 193 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
68 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-5136-3 (9781529951363)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Maggie Nelson is the author of several books of prose and poetry including The Red Parts, Bluets, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winner The Argonauts, On Freedom, Like Love and, most recently, Pathemata. She teaches at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles.