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Frivolity
A Defense
Series: No Limits
Brief Description
Why must everything be so important—so dour and solemn, so grim and austere? How about a feather boa, some frilly lace, and a bright splash of pink? In Frivolity, Jehanne Dubrow stands up for the seemingly shallow and trifling, calling for a reconsideration of what we...
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September 2026
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Frivolity
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Jehanne Dubrow offers a defense of the pursuits, objects, and people denigrated as frivolous, asking why we so readily scorn them and why, in particular, the label is so often tied to femininity and queerness.
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Description
Why must everything be so important—so dour and solemn, so grim and austere? How about a feather boa, some frilly lace, and a bright splash of pink? In Frivolity, Jehanne Dubrow stands up for the seemingly shallow and trifling, calling for a reconsideration of what we find worthy and what we dismiss.
This book is a provocation. It offers a defence of the pursuits, objects, and people denigrated as frivolous, asking why we so readily scorn them and why, in particular, the label is so often tied to femininity and queerness. Its 101 sections move lightly across literature, art, and popular culture, from Susan Sontag, Sei Shōnagon, Jane Austen, and Mozart to Barbie, Nora Ephron rom-coms, exclamation points, and Dubrow's own "Year of Perfect Skin." Written in a lyrical style, this book takes both an intimate and a rigorous approach to thinking about the frivolous, blending personal essay with scholarship.
For Dubrow, frivolity is a way of affirming the importance of joy and silliness. And don't we need a little more of both these things in an era made all too serious by autocracy and terror?
Series: No Limits
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Pre-orderFrivolity
Why must everything be so important—so dour and solemn, so grim and austere? How about a feather boa, some frilly lace, and a bright splash of pink? In Frivolity, Jehanne Dubrow stands up for the seemingly shallow and trifling, calling for a reconsideration of what we find worthy and what we dismiss. This book is a provocation. It offers a...Paperback$3799Unit price /UnavailableOut 15 Sep 2026Pre-order -
Pre-order
Listening
When everyone can make themselves heard, who cares to listen? How can we learn to pay attention without simply waiting for our turn to speak? What does it truly mean to be a good listener? Miriam Rasch offers a philosophical and personal exploration of the ethics of listening, understanding it not as a passive act but as a relationship between...Paperback$3799Unit price /UnavailableOut 13 Oct 2026Pre-order
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780231216159
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 25 August 2026
Country: United States
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Width: 140.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 152
About the Author
Jehanne Dubrow is a distinguished research professor and a professor of creative writing at the University of North Texas. She is the author of ten poetry collections; three books of nonfiction, including Taste: A Book of Small Bites (Columbia, 2022); and a craft book, The Wounded Line: A Guide to Writing Poems of Trauma (2025).
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