Timecode of a Face

De: Ruth Ozeki

Narrado por: Ruth Ozeki

What did your face look like before your parents were born? In The Face: A Time Code, best-selling author and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki recounts, in moment-to-moment detail, a profound encounter with memory and the mirror. According to ancient Zen tradition, 'your face before your parents were born' is your original face. Who are you? What is your true self? What is your identity before or beyond the dualistic distinctions, like father/mother and good/evil, that come to define us?

With these questions in mind, Ozeki challenges herself to spend three hours gazing into her own reflection, recording her thoughts and noticing every possible detail. Those solitary hours open up a lifetime's worth of meditations on race, ageing, family, death, the body, self-doubt and, finally, acceptance. In this lyrical treatise, Ozeki calls on her experience of growing up in the wake of World War II as a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian American, of having a public face as an author, of studying the intricate art of the Japanese Noh mask, of being ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest and of her own and her parents' ageing - to paint a rich, intimate and utterly unique portrait of a life as told through a face.

Please note: This title contains instances of strong language, connected to racial stereotyping.

©2022 Ruth Ozeki (P)2022 Canongate Books

Raw, Persistent, Courageous

What a beautiful unveiling of one's life experiences through the narration of the exercise of looking. I felt carried along on the gentle river of self reflection on deep topics such as aging, racism, familial narratives, and taboos. Ruth has a beautiful way of peeling back the layers of lived complexities to help center oneself in the mystery of who we are behind our faces