Shrinking Violets

The Secret Life of Shyness

Joe Moran

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780300227956
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

The author of Armchair Nation and On Roads examines shyness in a"sparkling cultural history rang[ing]from Jane Austen to Silicon Valley" ( The Guardian ). Shyness is a pervasive human trait: even most extroverts know what it is like to stand tongue-tied at the fringe of an unfamiliar group or flush with embarrassment at being the unwelcome center of attention. And yet the cultural history of shyness has remained largely unwritten—until now. With incisiveness, passion, and humor, Joe Moran offers an eclectic and original exploration of what it means to be a "shrinking violet." Along the way, he provides a collective biography of shyness through portraits of such shy individuals as Charles Darwin, Charles Schulz, Garrison Keillor, and Agatha Christie, among many others. In their stories often both heartbreaking and inspiring and through the myriad ways scientists and thinkers have tried to explain and "cure" shyness, Moran finds hope. To be shy, he decides, is not simply a burden; it is also a gift, a different way of seeing the world that can be both enriching and inspiring. "Fantastic and involving... [A] feat of empathy. Every page radiates understanding; every paragraph, its (shy) author's gentle wit."— The Observer "Whether you're boldly outgoing or reticent and self-effacing, you'll find something to inspire, inform, or surprise in this thoughtful, beautifully written, and vividly detailed cultural history."—Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet

INDEX

accents, 182, 183

accepting shyness, 229

acting shyness, 50

adolescence, 200–201, 210. See also school; and specific individuals

After Dark (Murakami), 216–217

agoraphobia, 219

Aitken, Jonathan, 188

albatrosses, 5, 9

alcohol, 61, 188–189

Allenby, Edmund (Gen.), 99

Americans, 77, 79, 82–84. See also specific individuals

Anatomy of Melancholy (Burton), 16

animals, 5–11, 90, 154. See also specific species

Apologia Diffidentis (Leith), 15–19

appearance, physical. See physical appearance and shyness

appearances, keeping up, 187

Apple Inc., 84–85

Argyle, Michael, 193–195, 196–199

Aristotle, 18, 105

art, 154–159, 163–164, 169, 180–181. See also Lowry, L. S.; Morandi, Giorgio

Art of Courtly Love (Capellanus), 209

Asperger, Hans, 156

Asperger’s syndrome, 156, 157–158. See also autism

Astrophil and Stella (Sidney), 209

Athill, Diana, 208

attention: avoiding, 56, 125–126, 139 (see also retreat);

seeking, 51, 129

Augustine, St., 113

Austen, Jane, 221

authenticity of shyness, 51–52

autism, 155–159

aversion therapy, 16–17

avoidance postures, 5

“awkward balloon” meme, 114–115

“Awkward Moments” (Mass Observation), 185–186

babies, shyness in, 11, 216

Bacon, Francis, 105

Balinese people, 73

Banff, Alberta, Canada, 9

Barton, Bernard, 20, 21

belonging, desire for, 42

Bennett, Alan, 186–187, 189–190, 199

Bergman, Ingmar, 76, 92

Berners, Lord, 42

Best, George, 183–184, 188–189

Bimini Sharklab, 9–10

Blackwell, Chris, 138

Blandford, Sylvia, 50

Bletchley Park, 53–57, 100

“Blush, The” (Taylor), 72

blushing, 18, 26–27, 72–73, 75, 80, 123. See also embarrassment

bodily functions, embarrassment about, 64–65, 72, 76, 166, 199, 215, 218–219, 224

body language, 3–4, 197. See also nonverbal communication

Bogarde, Dirk, 117–120, 200

Boyd, Joe, 137, 141, 142, 143

Brassens, Georges, 137

breaching experi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Chapter1: A Tentative History
• Chapter2: This Odd State of Mind
• Chapter3: How Embarrassing
• Chapter4: Tongue-Tied
• Chapter5: Stage Fright
• Chapter6: Shy Art
• Chapter7: The War against Shyness
• Chapter8: The New Ice Age
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Index