Recollections of My Nonexistence

A Memoir

By: Rebecca Solnit

Narrated by: Rebecca Solnit

Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography

Longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing

An electric portrait of the artist as a young woman that asks how a writer finds her voice in a society that prefers women to be silent, from the author of Orwell's Roses.

In Recollections of My Nonexistence, Rebecca Solnit describes her formation as a writer and as a feminist in 1980s San Francisco, in an atmosphere of gender violence on the street and throughout society and the exclusion of women from cultural arenas. She tells of being poor, hopeful, and adrift in the city that became her great teacher, and of the small apartment that, when she was 19, became the home in which she transformed herself. She explores the forces that liberated her as a person and as a writer—books themselves; the gay community that presented a new model of what else gender, family, and joy could mean; and her eventual arrival in the spacious landscapes and overlooked conflicts of the American West.

Beyond being a memoir, Solnit's book is also a passionate argument: that women are not just impacted by personal experience, but by membership in a society where violence against women pervades. Looking back, she describes how she came to recognize that her own experiences of harassment and menace were inseparable from the systemic problem of who has a voice, or rather who is heard and respected and who is silenced—and how she was galvanized to use her own voice for change.

©2020 Rebecca Solnit (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Much more than a feminist manifesto . . . Solnit movingly describes her efforts to fashion ‘the self who will speak’ . . . There are phrases, such as ‘women’s stories,’ ‘silencing,’ or ‘gaslighting,’ that contemporary discourse has emptied out. Solnit revives these terms with the breath of their own histories.”—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker

"At the same time that [Solnit] describes her forays into her past, she invites us to connect pieces of her story to our own, as a measure of how far we've come and how far we have left to go."—Jenny Odell, The New York Times Book Review

“Throughout her rich body of work, essayist and critic Rebecca Solnit has revealed pieces of herself in writings about the beauty of getting lost, the joys of walking both for pleasure and with purpose, and perhaps most famously, the indignity of being mansplained to. At last, she uses her eagle eye to explore her own life. Recollections of My Nonexistence is a marvel: a memoir that details her awakening as a feminist, an environmentalist, and a citizen of the world. Every single sentence is exquisite.”—Maris Kreizman, Vulture

One of the most important books of the roaring 20’s

I have read and listened to many of Miss Solnit’s book - but this one is so powerful .
It should be read in Academia as well as by a diverse group of people .
Men, I encourage you to listen it.
Such a deep reflection on the power of voice in our world - and the lack of power of marginalized voices .
An added pleasure was listening to the very end of the book, for the author’s heartfelt acknowledgements.
Highly recommended!

Solnit speaks truth to power

whatever I read or listen to an article or a book by Rebecca Solnit, I feel heard, understood, and seen. Solnit unapologetically speaks the truths that so many other women have been silenced, shamed, punished for. she points out the insanity of punishing and diminishing people just for speaking the truth, as well as the fact that violence and degradation of women still happens daily, despite claims of equality and progress.

The narrator's reduction of the word "sometimes" to a monosyllabic "s'times," however, was a bit distracting.

Love

A liberating, beautiful collection of stories from a life in word and art, spoken as a landscape that spans time and the American West.

Keep listening

It took me a while to actually get into this book. It's a thought provoking, very important read.

The Lantern Lighter!

Rebecca sees the invisible, the concealed, the veiled, the obscured and in a limpidly straightforward manner lights a little lantern for all to see. Exceptional writing!

Love

Spread this around like plant based butter on organic broccoli. Consume and grow! Peace for all.

Spectacular, Great Work, but Subtle, Delicate & ..

Spectacular, Great Work, but Subtle, Delicate & Precise

Both soft and strong, alive with sensitivity and power. In words, truth and insight with her scenic descriptions of life and of her life.

I am swept away in her lyrically painted flashes of her past and the city.

More please.

Buy it! Read it!

PS In no way similar but equally affecting to many of my other audible favorites

PPS more than 200 audible books mostly dreary clunkers I would dump if it wasn't so tedious.

But Solnit!
Much to thin and small to say I love it
Rather it's wonderful, wise, gentle, strong ...

'Mansplainer' extraordinaire

An analytical and brave look into
patriarchy practised by the western world in modern times.

Observant, organized, and real...

I find it rare and inspiring to find a mind who brings to life observations with such clarity. It’s not about the usual emotions and self referencing found in a memoir. Memoirs are my thing, and I enjoy all the lessons and distinct revelations of personality. Rebecca reveals herself by revealing her thoughts, at first it felt odd to me because of her style, but then her words sunk in. Those words reveal a poet and artist in her own right.

Thank you

Thank you for reminding me of my of my important youth living in SF, my intentions as a mother with this awesome responsibility that I am equally grateful for. I play the last few minutes of this audiobook over again to remember some of the same places I am grateful for while I was figuring out if I exist.