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Quote by Laura Mullen

“We live in a culture that insists on "moving on" (even while our loyalty to and love of the franchise and the sequel give away a larger loopiness). But I tend to dwell or obsess or meditate, and I came back to, for instance, the figure of Dickens's "Miss Havisham" with some (self) recognition if not relief.”

Quote by Laura Mullen

Author

Laura Mullen, born in 1958, is an accomplished American poet known for her profound emotional depth and unique narrative style. Her works have been widely appreciated by readers. more

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“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.”

“It's painful, but it's part of the recognition that makes real healing possible, if healing is possible (the jury is out on that, that's the usual phrase - should I say the jury is deadlocked?). Staying with the pain, attending to it, being present to and with it - that's the task, because that's the only (as far as I can tell) hope of finding a way forward.”

Ifs Way Should I Can Real Pain Healing Findings Tasks Painful Recognition Phrases Staying Usual Should I Jury Attending Way Forward

Author:Laura Mullen

“It is worth asking who decides what's an "obsession" and where it differs from meditation or the kind of deep dwelling on a subject we see in philosophy or the work of Robert Wilson, for instance?”

Kind Philosophy Meditation Subjects Asking Obsession Instance Dwelling Wilson

Author:Laura Mullen

“So when we're told to "move on" or "let go," we should take a look at who is saying it and why, and when we see repetition happening it's worth trying to understand it before attempting to shut it down.”

Should Trying Looks Moving Letting Go Happenings Repetition Attempting

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?"?)”

“In the "Intervention" section of the book we go into that looping from a battery of positions (where healer and sufferer are blurred). I'm very interested in "repetition and revision" (to use Suzan Lori-Parks's phrase) and in the culture's desire to loop or repeat.”

Book Use Desire Culture Position Phrases Repeats Parks Repetition Sections Intervention Healer Batteries Loops Revision Sufferers

Author:Laura Mullen

“The performance group The Ant Farm redoing JFK's assassination in Dallas was an event that struck a chord with me, especially when one of the members said they'd only intended to do it once, but the Dallas audience insisted they repeat the performance.”

Said Audience Groups Events Members Performances Repeats Farms Chords Ants Assassination Dallas

Author:Laura Mullen

“Star Wars film is breaking all previous box office records. (Why might we want to revisit those characters, that narrative, those jokes and tropes again, in this way, right now? I wonder what it will turn out to reveal about the economics and politics of this moment.)”

Way Want War Moments Character Might Film Turns Stars Wonder Records Right Now Office Jokes Economics Boxes Narrative Box Office Tropes

Author:Laura Mullen

“Is it possible that where the subject is socially approved (tah tah tah TAH tah, it's war) almost no one thinks we're "stuck," but when we think too much about what no one else wants to think about, as well as when we think without the thoughts evolving, then we're seen as trouble (and / or troubled)?”

Thinking Want Wells War Too Much Trouble Subjects Stuck Evolve Approved

Author:Laura Mullen

“One might say that "Torch Song" is, in part, about the urgency of the effort to pin things down and what wild dart throwing that desire leads to.”

Might Desire Song Effort Down And Throwing Pins Urgency Torches

Author:Laura Mullen