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    Tag: Mental health

    Madness has turned to logic

    Dear Gine, In Zero (2018, tr. Rosie Hedger. Original: Null, 2013), we follow a middle-class Norwegian girl from age ten to twenty-one, as she comes full circle…… Read more “Madness has turned to logic”

    28 de January de 202129 de January de 2021 by juliana

    The unlived life is light, so light

    Dear Marie Luise, Circe’s Mountain: Stories (1990, tr. Lisel Mueller. Stories originally written in the 1950’s and 1960’s) is a collection of 12 of some of your…… Read more “The unlived life is light, so light”

    7 de December de 20207 de December de 2020 by juliana

    Oh, stag of mine, darling stag, my one and only

    Dear Ariana, Die, My Love (2017, tr. Sarah Moses & Carolina Orloff. Original: Matate, Amor, 2012) is all about voice: a short musical piece of sustained rage,…… Read more “Oh, stag of mine, darling stag, my one and only”

    4 de July de 20204 de July de 2020 by juliana

    What would you do if you broke bread and blood came out?

    Dear Gayl, In Eva’s Man (1976), we follow Eva Medina Canada, a 43-year-old woman who has been convicted for murdering her lover, Davis Carter, by poisoning him with…… Read more “What would you do if you broke bread and blood came out?”

    23 de June de 2020 by juliana

    Is it ever wrong to do what you want to?

    Hi, folks, Here are some things I read, listened, or watched this past week. For more about this project & my previous posts on it, go here: Weeks…… Read more “Is it ever wrong to do what you want to?”

    16 de February de 202016 de February de 2020 by juliana

    What if mothers refused to deny their womanhood

    Dear Sibilla, A Woman, tr. Rosalind Delmar (1980. Original: Una donna, 1906) is a disturbing novella where rape, depression, suicide, adultery, and domestic violence are packed in…… Read more “What if mothers refused to deny their womanhood”

    23 de August de 2019 by juliana

    I shall have snow on my glassy fingers,

    Dear Emily, Somewhere on the threshold of a novel and a prose poem, we have The Shutter of Snow (1930). When the book starts, we are told of…… Read more “I shall have snow on my glassy fingers,”

    26 de April de 201926 de April de 2019 by juliana

    I have tried to be honest with you,

    Dear Penelope, The Pumpkin Eater (1962) is a disillusioned account of a woman’s emotional collapse, told from the fog of self-delusion and depression in which her mind seems…… Read more “I have tried to be honest with you,”

    29 de March de 201929 de March de 2019 by juliana

    Take her away and I’m half of whatever we are

    Dear Dorothy, Cassandra at the Wedding (1962) is a nuanced, finely observed character study and comedy of manners, full of a dark, twisted sense of humour, which can…… Read more “Take her away and I’m half of whatever we are”

    5 de February de 20195 de February de 2019 by juliana

    Kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths

    Dear Henry, The Heart of the Matter (1948) is a book about a man caught in the vortex of a moral crisis – and, ultimately, torn apart and…… Read more “Kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths”

    17 de January de 201917 de January de 2019 by juliana

    My past life would be but a dream,

    Dear Ottessa, My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) seems to be a novel suffering from split personality: on the one hand, it is a book about…… Read more “My past life would be but a dream,”

    18 de December de 2018 by juliana

    Perhaps freedom has no meaning

    Dear Iris, The Unicorn (1963) is a tale of imprisonment in a shared fantasy, where the cages, rotating on a blank axle, are full of longing. When…… Read more “Perhaps freedom has no meaning”

    10 de December de 2018 by juliana

    I preferred us when my father was away

    Dear Birgit, The Mussel Feast, tr. Jamie Bulloch (2013. Original: Das Muschelessen, 1990) is a novella about the collapse of a man’s rule over his family during the course of an…… Read more “I preferred us when my father was away”

    13 de November de 2018 by juliana

    Panic calls out cowardice, and cowardice cruelty

    Dear Elizabeth, The novella Lois the Witch (1859) is a fictionalised account of the Salem witch hunt, as well as a sharp meditation on the thin line…… Read more “Panic calls out cowardice, and cowardice cruelty”

    23 de October de 201824 de October de 2018 by juliana

    The milk of incomprehension

    Dear Nora, Soviet Milk, tr. Margita Gailitis (2018. Original: Mātes piens, 2015) was this odd thing: a butterfly that, going in reverse, moults back into a chrysalis. What…… Read more “The milk of incomprehension”

    11 de September de 201812 de September de 2018 by juliana

    Two half drowned things, clinging together in a shipwreck

    Dear Elizabeth, Vera (1921) is the story of a toxic relationship which gradually unfolds into a full-blown tale of psychological horror, made ever more disturbing by the…… Read more “Two half drowned things, clinging together in a shipwreck”

    20 de August de 201820 de August de 2018 by juliana

    Trust is fine, but control is better

    Dear Elfriede, Your novel The Piano Teacher, tr. Joachim Neugroschel (1988. Die Klavierspielerin, 1983) is vile and uncompromising: it dwells on the grotesque, crossed by an undercurrent…… Read more “Trust is fine, but control is better”

    3 de August de 20183 de August de 2018 by juliana

    The various crimes of sadness

    Dear Fleur, Most of the twenty-one stories in your collection I Am the Brother of XX, tr. Gini Alhadeff (2017. Original: Sono il fratello di XX, 2014) have a…… Read more “The various crimes of sadness”

    31 de July de 201831 de July de 2018 by juliana

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