The concept of madness manifests itself in a myriad of forms. Women especially seem predisposed to resorting to self-destructive methods as a way to cope with their personal demons. In the anthology, Live Through This: On Creativity and Self Destruction, editor Sabrina Chapadjiev compiles a diverse collection of works resulting from the unique personal sufferings of 19 individual women.
The Many Faces of Female Madness
Madness is no longer a catchall phrase restricted to the confines of mental illness. Madness, especially as it is presented in Chapadjiev's anthology, is a general term that includes any and all impulses that cause one to consider self-harm and other self-destructive behaviors.
The kinds of madness presented within these pages widens the scope of what is considered typical catalysts for self-destruction: childhood abuse and poverty, drug and alcohol addiction, depression and mania, the disease of a loved one, death of a sibling, domestic abuse and violent relationships, gender identity issues, cutting behavior and sexual preference conflicts.
While many of these personal tales have similarities (one parent households, an emotionally stressful trigger event, a childhood trauma), they are each unique in their retellings. Some women reached their madness boiling point in childhood, while some did not meet their madness face-to-face until adulthood. Regardless of the way each woman's madness came about, this book interweaves the tales alongside the basic premise that each woman was able to cope with her own self-destructive urges through her chosen creative outlet.
Transforming Self-Destructive Impulses to Works of Art
What began as Chapadjiev's desire to document what she dubbed the "rage to page" tendency in creatively inclined women, quickly evolved into studying the unique "relationship between creative and destructive impulses" in women (pg. 11).
This collection broadens the typical spectrum of depressed poet to include a plethora of creative types. The women who contributed to this anthology are writers and poets, but others are performance artists, photographers, dancers, musicians, graphic artists, spoken word performers, pornographic actresses, sketchbook artists and playwrights.
What each contributor has to share about her madness is profoundly enlightening. For instance, in the book's first piece, an essay by Carol Queen called Long, Long Thoughts, the author concludes her tale by expressing her gratitude to her younger self for deciding against jumping from her bedroom window and "turned away from the window and wrote instead of giving up on life" (pg. 25). In another piece entitled Weight Watcher by Stephanie Howell, the author tells an inspiring tale of her life-long struggle with weight by identifying each stage of her life as a number on the scale instead of an age, finally coming to the conclusion at 238 pounds that "the self-doubt and pressure to be skinny allows [her] the opportunity to explore...and create [her] art" (pg. 161).
The presentation of each woman's individual journey to counter-balance her madness with art is perhaps the most compelling facet of this anthology. While the majority of the book is composed of essays, there is a decent amount of art ranging from a series of sketched self-portraits and photographic self-portraits to a short graphic story.
The book does a great job of presenting alternative creative paths for women to explore. No longer is the tragic muse relegated to writing Plath-esque poetry (though Daphne Gottlieb does a wonderful job of incorporating Plath's Lady Lazarus into her essay, Lady Lazarus: Uncoupleting Suicide and Poetry). These artists each challenge the notion of what it means to be consumed by madness and the ideal of what society expects of them. Women can nurture and exercise their demons compassionately through their chosen art form, giving them the hope and strength to live through whatever the future holds.
Book Stats:
Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction Edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev
Paperback, 240 pages
Published by Seven Stories Press, 2008
ISBN# 1583228276
Lisa Rufle - If I had to describe myself in one word, it would easily be: curious. So as a natural extension of my curiosity, reading is my life's ...
