Embodied, Unbodied, and the Body Destroyed: Five Books About the Body
In undergrad, I took a few creative writing classes, and as I was trying to figure out the stories I wanted to write, the things I wanted to focus on, I kept coming back to the body. As I read
Five books that delve deeply into the subject of the body have captured my interest. In Justin Torres' novel Blackouts, actual bodies are vividly depicted on the page. The book within the book, Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns, a real work by George W. Henry, contains redacted queer bodies, raising questions about the nature of reproductions of ourselves and the impact of their manipulation.
Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing features tormented bodies, predominantly ghosts, who serve to hinder the story's progression due to the unjust history they represent. The unbodied spirits in the novel evoke a haunting presence and a profound emotional toll. Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife explores the concept of what constitutes a person's identity.
Is it their experiences, memories, body, or makeup? Gailey poses the scenario where all these aspects can be replicated, prompting us to consider the essence of our true selves. Lastly, Naben Ruthnum's Helpmeet offers a unique perspective on horror through an understated, observational lens, focusing on the description of a decaying body.
The narrative delves into the emotional impact on the characters affected by this deterioration, as well as the husband's struggle with a body that violently rebels against him.
Written by urgent.news from Literary Hub's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
