Subtle Gravity by Leonhard Praeg

ISBN: 9781869144760

University Of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 15 January 2022

Paperback, 320 pages

What is addiction? Who is an addict, and why? Are we only addicted to substances, or also to patterns of thought: self-loathing, doubt, obsessive thinking, and perhaps even silence? Subtle Gravity, like Praeg’s first novel, Imitation, departs from the assumption that we are all addicts. We all struggle with being alone. Taking as a point of departure an extreme form of addiction—a commitment to the silence we know precedes the violence that language imposes on us—Subtle Gravity maps a possible way back from addiction through a playful engagement with Buddhism, Christian mysticism, and, of course, Star Wars. Subtle Gravity deals with addiction as both a philosophical and spiritual issue or phenomenon. Insights from Buddhism, Christian mysticism,