Sublime Physick: Essays

by Patrick Madden

A follow-up to Patrick Madden’s award-winning debut, this introspective and exuberant collection of essays is wide-ranging and wild, following bifurcating paths of thought to surprising connections. In Sublime Physick , Madden seeks what is common and ennobling among seemingly disparate, even divisive, subjects, ruminating on midlife, time, family, forgiveness, loss, originality, a Canadian rock band, and much more, discerning the ways in which the natural world ( fisica ) transcends and joins the realm of ideas ( sublime ) through the application of a meditative mind.

 

In twelve essays that straddle the classical and the contemporary, Madden transmutes the ruder world into a finer one, articulating with subtle humor and playfulness how science and experience abut and intersect with spirituality and everyday life.

For teachers who'd like to adopt this book for their classes, Madden has provided a number of helpful teaching resources, including a 40-minute lecture on his writing process and writing prompts for each of the book's essays.

Genres: Essays, Memoir, Nonfiction

264 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2016

Reviews

[Brian Wasserman · Rating 1 out of 5]

perhaps some good lines but a lot of nonsense and many personal tangents. Great if you want to learn about Patrick Madden.

[Segullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHY, I asked myself in the first 10 pages of Patrick Madden’s Sublime Physick, why I am I reading about someone’s history with spitting and being so entertained by it? Within a couple of more pages, I decided not to think about the why, but to enjoy the madness, the brilliance, and the side gallops while following the rumpus of the story.

Madden takes one-off thoughts (seconds wasted in an elevator), unusual events (the visit of a respected author), the everyday actions not normally focussed on (kissing a spouse), a whole gamut of usually unnoticed moments and builds essays around them. Essays with humour,

Backward and forward, forward and backward (drawkcab dna drawrof niaga). (p. 207)

with contemplation, with supporting quotes, historical tidbits and witty asides that drag you in, dazzle, and make you look at the ordinary moments of life as anything but “every day”.

Since then, I have kissed Karina and she has kissed me thousands of times, perhaps hundreds of thousands of times, sometimes quickly as one of us takes leave, sometimes in prolonged passionate pecks, oscillating osculations (thank you, thesaurus!). I wish now that I had timed our smooches, the better to aggregate them here, but suffice it to suspect that across our seventeen years, I have been locked to her lips, and she to mine, for weeks and weeks (and sleepless weeks, at that). And of course, a kiss does not happen only in the moments of contact...

to read the rest of this review, please visit our blog here: https://segullah.org/book-review/patr...

[Austin Rory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been looking forward to this book for a while, and it was worth the wait.

I love following Madden's tangential thoughts. I'm often surprised by where they end up, but, especially in this collection, was amazed at how often we went in the same direction, seemingly independently, while reading about how many people, seemingly independently, come up with the same ideas and thoughts.

[Renée · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is my book review of Madden's "Sublime Physick" over at Inside Higher Ed -- with huge thanks to John Griswold for his fantastic editing of this review:

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/...

[Carley]

Ichariba chode.

I am honored by your presence and I honor you with mine.

[Lanie Tankard · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review on RIVER TEETH: http://www.riverteethjournal.com/blog...