An Approach to Black
Description
An Approach to Black traces the fate of Finnish artist Anna S. and her legacy. It's the late nineteenth century, and Anna is married to Eino, another artist. Eino gains fame and recognition for his idyllic evocations of family life. Anna, meanwhile, goes mad and is confined to an institution.
In present-day London, two people are driven to try and understand Anna: a young artist named Jonathan, who is descended from Anna and Eino, and retired Finnish academic Emma, who is writing a book about her. Through their quest, An Approach to Black explores questions of female agency and creativity, as well as desire and madness.
More details
Person
Emily Jeremiah holds an MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths, University of London, and was awarded Arts Council funding to work on her debut novella, Blue Moments (Valley Press, 2020). A professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, she is the author of three academic books. With her Finnish mother, Fleur Jeremiah, she has co-translated five novels, one of which, White Hunger by Aki Ollikainen (Peirene Press), was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2016. She has translated two selections of poetry for Waterloo Press. A volume of poems by Pentti Saarikoski, co-translated with Fleur Jeremiah, appeared in 2020 (Norvik Press).
