THE POINT OF VANISHING: A MEMOIR OF TWO YEARS IN SOLITUDE
Book ID/图书代码： 03540015B86139
English Summary/英文概要： Named by Publishers Weekly as one of the Big Indie Books of Fall 2015.
Thoreau said, "In wildness is the preservation of the world." For Howard Axelrod, wildness was the preservation of his humanity. Out of sudden and profound loss, he has drawn a haunting, tender memoir that grips like an emotional thriller. The Point of Vanishing is raw, exquisitely written, and full of poetic insights. In its subtle, deeply moving way, it will have you peering beneath the various faces you present to the world, and encourage you to ask the most fundamental of questions: what is man’s place in the natural world?
At 20, Howard Axelrod was an honors student at Harvard, just beginning to figure out who he might become - perhaps a lawyer, another in his family of pedigreed lawyers. But one afternoon, during a game of basketball, a freak accident caused him to lose the sight in his right eye. Not only would his peripheral vision, depth perception and physical appearance be changed, but he’d be forced to live with a constant reminder of the gap between perception and reality. He became increasingly aware of his own blind spots, not just physically but metaphorically. The assurance that most people have that they’re seeing reality, and that they’re seeing everything there is to see, was lost in an instant.
The Point of Vanishing is a memoir about growing up and coming of age, about facing the dawning awareness that without an outer life, an inner life has nowhere to cast its light — because without surfaces, depth is a very lonely thing indeed. This is a kind of portrait of the artist as a young man, but with the very accessible notion of gaining a new kind of perception and insight.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 由Publishers Weekly提名为2015年秋季的Big Indie Books之一。
梭罗说，“世界存于荒野。”对Howard Axelrod而言，人性存于野外。在经历了突然而深刻的失落之后，他的回忆录仿佛一部情感的恐怖片，温柔似水又暗藏杀机。本书相当真实而精致，充满了诗意的想法，微妙而真切地打动着读者的心灵，让读者审视隐藏在各种面具之下的真我，并鼓励读者追寻最根本的问题：人类在自然界中究竟该如何自处？
20岁时的Howard Axelrod是哈佛大学的优秀学生，正要面临着人生的决定：自己想要成为什么样的人。或者是律师，因为他的家族中已经出了很多著名的律师。但一个下午，在篮球场上的一起突发事故使他失去了右眼的视力。不仅是视力上的改变，还有感知上的、外貌上的，他不得不开始面对想象和现实之间的差距。他越来越重视自己的“盲区”，不仅是视力上的，更是隐喻上的。那种所见即现实、一切皆可视的安全感在瞬间失去了。
本书是一部关于成长和时代的回忆录，讲述了作者粗浅的认识：如果没有外部的生活，内在的生命无处可投其光——因为如果没有表层的出口，深刻的人生只能充满寂寞。这是作者本人年轻时的肖像，但也包容了新的观念和见解。（LYR）
Awards/获奖情况：未满三十的作者在丛林中隐居了24个月，没有电脑，几乎不接手机。过往的人生仿佛只为自己而播放的电视剧，回忆起一幕幕，他会大笑，也会哭泣。
Review for Slate magazine http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2015/11/howard_axelrod_s_the_point_of_vanishing_reviewed.html
About the Author/作者介绍： Howard Axelrod是1995年哈佛大学优等毕业生，并在亚利桑那大学获得了艺术硕士学位。他曾为纽约时报杂志、哈佛杂志、DoubleTak杂志等等撰稿。他曾获得过Michael C. Rockefeller基金资助，也成为过包括蓝山中心在内的多个机构的获奖常驻作者。他创作的儿童书籍《Starry Time》曾登上Robert Coles的儿童道德智力畅销榜，他的短篇小说曾刊登在《25 and Under: Fiction》上。
Howard在哈佛大学、亚利桑那大学以及温特沃斯理工学院任教。
Howard Axelrod graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1995, and earned his MFA from the University of Arizona. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, Harvard Magazine, DoubleTake Magazine, and elsewhere. He has been the recipient of a Michael C. Rockefeller fellowship, and has been awarded residencies from the Blue Mountain Center, the Ucross Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, the Hambidge Center, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Anderson Center. His children’s story, “Starry Time,” appeared in Robert Coles’ bestselling The Moral Intelligence of Children, and his short fiction appeared in 25 and Under: Fiction.
Howard has held teaching positions at Harvard, University of Arizona, and Wentworth Institute of Technology.
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