Maggie Nelson

Maggie Nelson is the author and first person voice behind On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint. Although Nelson has published many works in varying mediums, including poetry, hybrid form, and nonfiction essays, the writings comprising On Freedom, present Nelson's cultural criticisms and critiques on one overarching topic: freedom. Nelson opens the text identifying her reasons for taking interest in the topic. The theme emerged from another book she was writing on art and cruelty. Once it surfaced, Nelson felt powerless to dismiss it. She goes on to list a litany of reasons her friends and peers gave her to not write the book. She lists her own trepidations, and acknowledges those of her potential readers. Despite all of these disinclinations, Nelson says that she could not give up the project.

Instead of exploring the idea of freedom through a strictly historical or political lens...