Jake Goldsmith is an author with cystic fibrosis and a list of other chronic health conditions. He lives in Suffolk, England.

​

His writing mainly focuses on the phenomenology of illness, intellectual history, philosophy, and how illness defines one’s experiences.

​

His memoir Neither Weak Nor Obtuse was originally published in 2019 and explores Jake's literary and philosophical influences, as well as the perceptions and realities of living with a life-limiting chronic illness.

​

The title of the book comes from a phrase within a letter Boris Pasternak sent to Albert Camus in 1957, stating that while there may not be anything beyond ‘sensualism’, a sensualism that is completely naked and extreme becomes weak and obtuse. This limitation is explored in Jake’s work.

​

A new edition of Neither Weak Nor Obtuse was published by Sagging Meniscus Press in July 2022. You can order it here. 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A collection of short essays titled In Hospital Environments: Essays on Illness & Philosophy, featuring illustrations by Wend Rend, was published in May 2024.

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of Jake's main intellectual influences include Svetlana Alexievich, Raymond Aron, W.N.P. Barbellion, Albert Camus, Michel de Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld, Manès Sperber, Bernard Williams, and Simone Weil.

​

Jake is the founder and director of The Barbellion Prize, an international book prize for ill and disabled authors.

​

​

​

More From Jake:

​

Jake wrote an epistolary essay while admitted to Royal Papworth Hospital in May 2021; published in Issue No. 2 of the quarterly magazine Exacting Clam: From Royal Papworth Hospital.

​

Jake's brief essay On Illness and Possibility was published in Issue No. 3 of Exacting Clam, Winter 2021.

​

Disabled Thoughts was published in Issue No. 5 of Exacting Clam.

​

Spurious Thoughts was published in Issue No. 7 of Exacting Clam.

​

Yet More Thoughts was published in Issue No. 9 of Exacting Clam.

​

A Brief Note on the Use of Aronian Liberalism was published in Issue No. 10 of Exacting Clam.

​

Distrust and Expertise — A Brief Note was published in Issue No. 11 of Exacting Clam.

​

Words and Clarity was published in Issue No. 13 of Exacting Clam. 

​