Overview

"An exhilarating exploration of natality, a much-needed counterpoint to mortality, drawing on the insights of brilliant writers and thinkers. Birth is one of the most fraught and polarized issues of our time, at the center of debates on abortion, gender, work, and medicine. But birth is not solely an issue; it is a fundamental part of the human condition, and, alongside death, the most consequential event in human life. Yet it remains dramatically unexplored. Although we have long intellectual traditions of wrestling with mortality, few have ever heard of natality, the term political theorist Hannah Arendt used to describe birth's active role in our lives. In this ambitious, revelatory book, Jennifer Banks begins with Arendt's definition of natality as the ""miracle that saves the world"" to develop an expansive framework for birth's philosophical, political, spiritual, and aesthetic significance. Banks focuses on seven renowned western thinkers to reveal a provocative countertradition of birth. She narrates these writers' own experiences alongside the generative ways they contended with natality in their work. Passionately intelligent and wide-ranging, Natality invites listeners to attend to birth as a challenging and life-affirming reminder of our shared humanity and our capacity for creative renewal."

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Jennifer Banks is senior executive editor at Yale University Press. Her work has appeared in the Boston Review and Pleiades, among other publications. She lives in Massachusetts. Jen Jayden is a singer, songwriter, narrator, music producer, and actress based in Los Angeles. She holds a degree in music theater from Elon University. Prior to the pandemic, Jen spent the vast majority of two decades touring the world as a singer and headliner on cruise ships with her self created, self produced classic rock show that is one part rock concert, meets one part TED talk. She has been very blessed to have toured every continent. Her extensive work in live theater, improv, and songwriting have given her the agility and skill to embrace each character and story with vision and passion and bring it to life. She brings a wide range of theatrical experience and skill, paired with dynamic delivery as well as producer and recording engineering capabilities. As a narrator, her voice has been described as warm, genuine, engaging, inspirational, humorous, and relatable. Jen's favorite genres to narrate include rom com, mystery and suspense, thriller, YA, children's, and LGBTQ fiction. She equally loves voicing self-help and motivational literature that empower young adults and women. Diving into the vulnerability of characters is one of her favorite places to be, because she knows from her own personal experience, that behind every edgy and empowered personality, is that part of us that has secrets, fears and a unique authenticity waiting to be unlocked . . . and that is where the magic in all of us lies. In Jen's spare time, she loves to cook and is a fitness enthusiast, embracing nature every chance she gets. She has a professional, acoustically treated studio in Los Angeles and is available for session work via her home studio or in person throughout Los Angeles. Her longstanding career in the entertainment world is certainly backed by her voracious drive and work ethic, as well as her care and genuine relationships fostered over the years.

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