The wake of the unseen object

Abstract

When The Wake of the Unseen Object was published in 1991, I imagined it might reach readers as a work of "literary travel," a genre then filling the shelves at the front of bookstores. The understated arc of the book, after all, was the education of a traveler: his progress, from early awkward door-to-door questioning to a deeper understanding and sense of place. His lessons in paying attention and seeing the world as it is, unburdened by romanticism or its inverse, disillusion. His struggles to free himself from that peculiar little character who shows up briefly in Chapter Two, "the God of Things as They Ought to Be." This new edition of the book reproduces the text as it originally appeared, without corrections or updates. Terms such as "Eskimo" and "Indian," now subject to reconsideration but common and accepted in that day, remain in place, along with then-standard applications of the words "Inupiat" and "Inupiaq," as noun and adjective.--Provided by publisher.