As anyone who has ever been lonely knows, loneliness is more often felt in company—particularly in dense, highly social places—than in solitude. Loneliness does not simply mean being alone; it’s being alone in the presence of so many others.
After Olivia Laing moved to New York City from her home in England, and her new love interest conveniently experienced a sudden change of heart, she found herself alone in a new city—and adrift on a new continent. She sought solace in exploring the city, and by examining the work of iconic, lonely artists who came before her. Laing’s third book, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, combines personal memoir, art theory, and biography to examine the roots and products of loneliness.
“I wanted to understand what it means to be lonely, and how it has functioned in people’s lives,” she writes, “to attempt to chart the complex relationship between loneliness and art.”