Thrown into Focus: Mental Illness — 6.1.17
“You can throw a novel into focus with one overheard line. If you don’t ever hear the right overheard line, then you’re lost forever in that novel.” — Joan Didion
“Thrown into Focus” is The Avid Reader’s periodic assemblage of recent links from the literary inter-webs revolving around a particular subject. The title of this series was inspired by a quote from Joan Didion. Today’s edition focuses on attempts to write about, around, and through mental illness.
Sherman Alexie on his own and his mother’s mental illnesses, both “shared and separate.” | Lit Hub, 6.1.17
I find myself wondering, what do I do as an Indian when some of our most sacred moments — like a powwow — aggravate my PTSD?
K.C. Mead-Brewer writes back against common misconceptions about depression, from Fitzgerald to Batman. | JSTOR Daily, 5.24.17
To read a more extended personal/historical critique of Western society’s abuse of those suffering from mental illness, pick up a copy of Ron Powers’ No One Cares About Crazy People from your nearest indie.| NYT Book Review, 4.4.17
Philipa Snow on reading Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays while living with depression | Lit Hub, 5.18.17
Here is the truth about women as objects: that sometimes, their objecthood runs dry and out by the time they are 40, and then they can do nothing other than cease to exist.
Yiyun Li’s memoir Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life “provides a much-needed different lens for thinking about mental illness in the sphere of ideas rather than buzzwords like self-love or self-care.” | Electric Lit, 6.1.17
…as a reader and writer who struggles with mental illness, for me it’s so refreshing to find a writer who finally addresses the real “thought-spirals” of depression, instead of merely describing symptoms like “I couldn’t get out of bed all day”
For all those local to Georgia, the Carter Center in Atlanta will be hosting a discussion on anxiety disorders on June 15. Andrea Peterson will be in attendance, speaking on her new book, On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety. Open to the public; RSVP by June 8.
