[New post] ‘I Was Trapped Forever In This Present Tense’: Carmen Maria Machado on Surviving Abuse

Hope Reese posted: "Hope Reese | Longreads | November 2019 | 8 minutes (2,125 words) "The nature of archival silence is that certain people's narratives and their nuances are swallowed by history," Carmen Maria Machado writes in her memoir In the Dream House. "We see only w" New post on Longreads 'I Was Trapped Forever In This Present Tense': Carmen Maria Machado on Surviving Abuse by Hope Reese Hope Reese | Longreads | November 2019 | 8 minutes (2,125 words) "The nature of archival silence is that certain people's narratives and their nuances are swallowed by history," Carmen Maria Machado writes in her memoir In the Dream House. "We see only what pokes through because it is sufficiently salacious for the majority to pay attention." In this new book, which draws attention to the rarely-written issue of abuse in queer relationships, she hopes to provide an antidote to the problem. In her elegant and piercing story, Machado, whose 2007 collection Her Body And Other Parties: was a finalist for the National Book Award, fits fragmented memories together to tell her own story of abuse (chapters appear as vignettes, with titles such as "The Dream House as Utopia," or "The Dream House as Diagnosis"). "The Dream House" — although entirely real — is a bit fantastical, and Machado writes in the second person to turn the lens around. Her partner is, simply, "the woman in the dream house." And Machado's use of footnotes from the Motif Index of Folk Literature is uniquely striking. Read more of this post Hope Reese | November 7, 2019 at 7:30 am | Tags: abuse, Books, Carmen Maria Machado, domestic violence, memoir | Categories: Books, Nonfiction, Story | URL: https://wp.me/p4KhvY-yDj Like Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Longreads. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://longreads.com/2019/11/07/interview-with-carmen-maria-machado/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com