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Notes From a Phobic Life
Viking
February 2007
On Sale: February 1, 2007
288 pages
ISBN: 0670038423
EAN: 9780670038428
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
A droll, inquisitive, and poignant memoir of agoraphobia
from a member of one of New York’s premier literary families Allen Shawn is afraid of heights, water, fields, parking
lots, tunnels, and unknown roads. He avoids taking subways,
using elevators, or crossing bridges. In short, he is afraid
of both closed and open spaces and of any form of isolation.
Yet this is a memoir of enormous bravery. Shawn grew up in a lively but mysterious world. He is the
son of the famous, longtime New Yorker editor William Shawn
and brother to the brilliant playwright and actor Wallace
Shawn. His twin sister is autistic, and when they were eight
years old, she was put in a home. Though it was kept from
him until he was in his thirties, his father led a double
life that introduced strict taboos to his household. Shawn
examines these influences, his father’s and mother’s
phobias, and his own struggle with agoraphobia with
generosity, wit, and insight, attempting to decipher the
psychological and biological puzzles that have plagued him
for so long. Interwoven with both Freudian psychology and cutting-edge
brain research, Shawn has written a profound examination of
familial love and the universal struggle to face our demons.
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