“It seems all "protection" has to be monitored, considered, weighed and justified - I am suggesting we do that (but it's something Mary Shelley (and Gertrude Stein) also suggest). "Torch Song," the book's final section, looks at an arson committed by someone hired to protect the wilderness from fires, a catastrophic failure of protection!” LooksBookSeemsSongFireProtectFinalsCommittedProtectionWildernessMarySectionsJustifiedTorchesSuggestingGertrudeShelleyArson Author:Laura Mullen
“The most important aspect of writing the pieces that make up this eighth book was yielding to my obsessive side, letting my own "complicated grief" in on the process. You can imagine how tempting it is to try to fight the part of you that loops and loops, caught up in tangled sorrow from which it seems there's no escape.” WritingTryingImportantBookSeemsFightingProcessSidesMy OwnGriefPiecesImagineSorrowAspectCaughtComplicatedCaught UpObsessiveTemptingLoopsTangledComplicated Grief Author:Laura Mullen
“Miss Havisham is an important feminine literary figure in the tradition of Antigone (though it's significant that Antigone is fighting to bury something and Miss Havisham refuses, as it were, to bury the corpse). Like Hamlet, she's focused on what everyone would rather not know or would like to forget, and she seems crazy / stuck as well as bitter, but she's also a perfect prototype of a performance artist. She's intentionally hard to deal with inviting the audience to remain with the violated body, the evidence of violence.” KnowsWellsImportantHardBodySeemsArtistFightingPerfectForgetDealsAudienceViolenceCrazyMissingFiguresEvidenceTraditionPerformancesRefuseFocusedStuckSignificantBitterFeminineCorpsesInvitingPrototypeAntigoneHavishamMiss Havisham Author:Laura Mullen
“Miss Havisham is a glitch in the smooth functioning of the Patriarchy, enforcing awareness of a moment of social disaster and personal shame, something it seems she would want us to forget (but no one would forget). (Maybe an interesting "discussion question" for readers of Complicated Grief might be, "What do Terry Barton and Miss Havisham have in common?"?)” WantMomentsSeemsMightSocialForgetInterestingCommonGriefAwarenessMissingReaderShameComplicatedDisasterDiscussionSmoothPatriarchyWant UGlitchesHavishamMiss HavishamComplicated Grief Author:Laura Mullen
