Acedia & meA Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life

A lifelong procrastinator finds the roots to her disposition in ancient Greece
The term "acedia" comes from the Greek and has never properly translated to English — which has caused it to drift in and out of our dictionaries for years with a variety of definitions (among them, "indolence," "apathy," and the deadly sin of "sloth.") Kathleen Norris, a celebrated theological poet, essayist and bestselling author, stumbled upon the term "acedia" in the writings of a fourth-century Christian monk. In this superb, bookish memoir, she details how the term exemplified an addiction she has struggled with for most of her life, beginning in her early teens.

Norris leaves no stone unturned in her attempt to transplant the concept of acedia from its ancient religious past and apply it to modern society, quoting from Christian thinkers spanning centuries, as well as studying the nuances of her own relationships, particularly her marriage to poet David Dwyer, who died in 2003. By examining her own version of acedia, which includes reading four bad mystery novels in a day while ignoring the vital repetitions of life such as making the bed, cleaning the house or doing the laundry, Norris invites readers to explore how acedia manifests itself in their own lives — say, in surfing the internet, playing video games, watching blockbuster movies, and so forth. In identifying these various forms of escapism, she makes a clear distinction between acedia and depression: the former, she insists, is a bad habit that must be tempered through discipline while the latter is, generally, a treatable illness.

The end result is a deeply inspiring, lively memoir by a tremendous thinker whose insight and call to arms over this universal vice is both enjoyable to read and, as Norris surely intends, genuinely rousing.