About the Book

Why do we exist? Where did we come from? How can one person matter? Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and one of the most compelling writers of our time, searches for answers in her most profound narrative to date. With her keen eye, penchant for paradox, and yearning for truth, Dillard renews our ability to discover wonder in even the darkest and most remote of life's corners.

This personal narrative surveys the panorama of our world. The natural history of sand. The dizzying variety of clouds. Ten thousand terra-cotta figures fashioned for a Chinese emperor in place of the human court that might have followed him into death. The paleontologist and theologian Teilhard de Chardin crossing the Gobi Desert. Vivid, eloquent, and haunting, For the Time Being evokes no less than the terrifying grandeur of all that remains tantalizingly, troublingly beyond our understanding.

Product Details

Media: Paperback Book, 224 pages

Language: English

Publisher: Vintage Books USA

Edition: Unknown

ISBN-10: 0375703470

Publication Date: Feb. 8th, 2000

ISBN-13: 9780375703478

Dimensions: 5.20 x 8.06 x 0.60 inches

Shipping Weight: 0.52 lbs

• Categories: Literary Collections Essays