In this extraordinary memoir, Gwyneth Lewis, the inaugural National Poet of Wales, recounts her toxic upbringing at the hands of her controlling, coercive mother. It is a book that Gwyneth has been preparing to write all her life, keeping diaries since childhood. In these journals, she interrogates the emotionally abusive relationship she experienced, in great pain but determined to find a way through.
Nightshade Mother is a book that Gwyneth co-writes with her younger self, an unexpected and life-saving dialogue through time. Metaphors of haunting intensity help her confront what happened to her; quotations from art and literature guide and steady her. This is a book about the power of art, language and, ultimately, about homecoming over a lifetime of exile from herself. It is a profoundly moving and beautiful work; questing, forgiving and loving in its approach.
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Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
University of Wales Press
Illustrationen
ISBN-13
978-1-915279-92-7 (9781915279927)
DOI
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Prelude - 'The Powers of Love Reversed'
Toxins
Chapter 1 - Invalid
Chapter 2 - Mistaken Identities
Chapter 3 - Damnation
Chapter 4 - Witnesses
Chapter 5 - Top
Antidotes
Chapter 6 - Two Kinds of Elsewhere
Chapter 7 - Crisis
Chapter 8 - Remissions
Acknowledgements
References
