From the Heart - by Jeffrey L Kosky

About the Book

"In a contemporary world where political, environmental, and personal crises succeed one another without respite, it is no surprise that many resort to either nihilism or despair. From the Heart gives us reasons why we should still care--about anything. It finds support in authors as diverse as Friedrich Nietzsche and Saint Augustine, Soren Kierkegaard and Karl Ove Knausgaard, and in modern and contemporary artists such as Tehching Hsieh, Bas Jan Ader, and Christian Boltanski-all of whom provide material for a rich, rewarding, heartfelt meditation. It speaks personally about "big questions," drawing on memoir, the arts, philosophy, religious traditions, and science. What does it mean for a heart to fail, to break, and what does it take to recover? Jeffrey Kosky shows us that attentive immersion in the natural and social worlds brings joy in both sickness and health, dying and living"--

Book Synopsis

What does it mean to have a heart? How does it feel when a heart fails, and what does it take to recover? In a world beset by never-ending crises--personal and collective, local and global--is heartlessness the only option?

From the Heart weaves together a personal narrative of a life-threatening ailment with considerations of philosophy, art, and science to contemplate ultimate questions: matters of life and death. Jeffrey L. Kosky recounts his brush with death--the surgical repair of a congenital defect in his aortic valve--his gradual recovery of everyday life, and his struggle to find the heart to go on throughout it all. To make sense of the experience, he immerses himself in humanistic inquiry and medical science--the histories of medicine, cardiac surgery, and knowledge of the human heart as well as the works of artists, writers, philosophers, and theologians. Writing about the experience of being human from the precarious position of his own woundedness, Kosky shares hard-earned perspectives on what matters most.

Combining moving memoir, encounters with major authors and artists, and heartfelt reflections on the "big questions" of existence, this elegantly written book is at once erudite and powerful. It shows us why the heart--in physical, emotional, and metaphorical senses--helps us come to terms with sickness and health, dying and living.

Review Quotes

Jeffrey L. Kosky has a congenitally hurt heart. When that hurt became acute, surgery saved him--but for how long, and to what end? He engages those questions with a blend of intimacy and unsparing introspection that recalls Augustine's Confessions. Have you, like me, survived heart surgery? This is a book for us. And even if you haven't, it will do your heart a world of good.--Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography

Kosky has written a book unlike any other I know. In this meditation on having, losing, and regaining his heart, he sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve, sometimes scrutinizes it from a distance. He tells a philosophical story that creates a space in which you, too, can meditate on what happens to your heart for as long as it beats, until it stops.--Lars Svendsen, author of A Philosophy of Hope

With a seasoned humanist's eye, and with a serious cardiac condition of his own, Kosky looks at the heart's intimate mechanics and morphology, as well as its symbolism in religion, literature, philosophy, and the arts. The result is an exquisite, unique, haunting book. Humanistic scholarship at its best--and most heartbreakingly personal.--Costica Bradatan, author of In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility

In From the Heart, Kosky uses his own experience with aortic valve replacement to connect the strange and instrumental world of medicine with the variety of ways the metaphorical heart has shown up in our attempts to explore the mystery and meaning of life. From the Heart will resonate with people who have gone through life-threatening injuries and illnesses, but I also hope that medical providers will read this book to better understand their patients' experiences.--Raymond Barfield, MD, PhD, author of Wager: Beauty, Suffering, and Being in the World

About the Author

Jeffrey L. Kosky is professor of religion at Washington & Lee University. His books include Arts of Wonder: Enchanting Secularity (2013).