Humiliation (BIG IDEAS//small books)

I am in the midst of reading and 'enjoying' Wayne Koestenbaum's extraordinary little gem and treatise simply entitled HUMILIATION---quite a feat--to expound for 192 pages clarifying penetrating exposing exploring its soaring depths, its weird highs and lows this 'humilation' from all its twisted abject angles : subjective and objective personal and cultural psychological and dare i say clinical, this acutely heightened exploration of a topic one would not want to touch with a 10ft pole let alone admit a personal relationship with it! and the courage to grapple with it---astounding and triumphant accomplishment. And, then also to be humorous in the midst of such unpleasantness, referring to himself as the 'humilation expert', is endearingly honest.For the life of me, i cannot understand those reviewers who find this work 'confusing' as it is a fluid, intelligent, self assured and well written expose of something which is a grotesque part of our nature and therefore of life as we know it: it both attracts and repels us and permeates our lives as Mr. Koestenbaum so smartly addresses in all its guises. For sure, as this brave and talented writer states: 'humilation cooks the spirit to a fine finish'and then some. . .yes, i always knew humilation to be good for the soul.upon further examination, tho, experiencing 'humiliation (eventually) leads to a cessation of humiliation' and this stoppage of terror , is experienced as pleasure.'it is good to face fear in all its ingloriousness and laugh at it and truly mean it

Boring reading about a narcissists sex life and his humiliation over everything that’s ever happened.

Great price.

I read it across 4 continents and had the odd experience of having a number of people undergo significant humiliation whilst reading. It is very real and very funny; that said the explorations of pop-culture and literature across the board through this pinhole lens are truly insightful and illuminating, but dark. Enjoy if you like other genres such as queer literature, absurdism, academic essays, David Sedaris, people like Judy Garland/ Liza Minelli and Samuel Beckett.

"Humiliation" sounded like an interesting topic. I was hoping for something a bit more psychological, though. This book is a collection of chapters that don't seem to have anything to do with each other directly, other than having the central theme of something embarrassing or humiliating. Within each chapter, the paragraphs also don't always seem to have anything to do with each other directly though, either. It was hard for me to read just in that sense.It was an interesting exploration of Koestenbaum's mind and perceptions of humiliation, but it didn't really broaden my understanding of human nature or our fascination/revulsion reaction as a species to our own or others' humiliation. I was really hoping for something along those lines. In that sense the book did not meet my expectations. It did give a lot examples, though. If you're a Koestenbaum fan, you'll be very happy with the book. If you're looking for something scholarly and psychologically academic, you'll be disappointed. I'm in the middle, so...three stars.

This book delves into the subject of humiliation itself, in all the different ways it effects us. The book is broken up into 11 chapters or "FUGUES" as the author calls them. He describes what he means when he uses the term, but really it fits the standard meaning for a fugue: 'interweaving repetitive elements that form a theme'.This is not a book of comedic stories, although some parts are humorous. It is a stark, bleak look at the subject of humiliation in our lives and how it shapes our very world.Many points are made, first the difference between 'shame' and 'humiliation'. Shame can be an internal thing, we may do something in private and later feel shame for what we have done, but no other is aware, where humiliation is public. This is a very important distinction.This author points out the ugly of humiliation, such as how people enjoy watching shows such as "American Idol' to see the poor performers made fun of by the judges and laughed at by the audience for the sake of entertainment.It also show the other side that provokes activism, or as he calls "'The Rosa Parks Principle': how years of humiliation provokes epoch-making revolt".This is not a fun book to read, it shows that there are things in this world that many of us indulge in daily. It is to me a very enlightening book, because few people would dare to so openly and bluntly discuss such a topic."Humiliation" is not a book for everyone, in fact I expect many negative reviews for it. It is not a 'fun' read. But it is a very powerful one.This book does not leave you feeling good, and it shouldn't, if that's what you want then go to the romance section and pick something from there. But if you want a book that will leave you with a new understanding of a subject not often discussed then this will do that.It made me think, even if what I was thinking of was not pleasant, and for that, it accomplished its goal.

Excited about reading this.