In the first story “The Husband Stitch” a woman gives her lover everything he desires but keeps one thing to herself–the secret of her prized green ribbon. This collection grapples with the trauma and horror women and women’s bodies are put through by a patriarchal society that wants to see them submit. Further recommended texts include her memoir In the Dream House.In this collection of short stories, Carmen Maria Machado does what skilled horror writers do best: she examines real-world beliefs through a lens that highlights that real horror isn’t monsters, but our own societies. To make the most of the session, you may like to read Her Body and Other Parties. Its opening story, ‘The Husband Stitch’, has become one of the most influential pieces of fiction of the last 10 years, provoking a fascinated interest in readers who are drawn to it.Įach of our speakers will present a 15-20 minute paper on one aspect of Machado’s collection, followed by an opportunity for audience questions and discussion. Whilst her 2019 memoir, In the Dream House, was received with critical acclaim, it is for her collection of short stories, Her Body and Other Parties (2017) that she is best-known and most loved. She moves between Gothic, horror, and sci-fi, inflected with folklore, magical realism, and dystopia, and powered by a queer, disruptive playfulness with literary form that grows out of her unapologetic feminist politics. Machado’s writing is delightfully varied and idiosyncratic. Yet her stories are also vital, profound portraits of femininity at the intersection of reality and fantasy, materiality and myth, which few readers would be able to forget. Her fiction is deeply rooted in women’s complex experiences of their worlds her characters find themselves in dangerous and dispossessing situations, and don’t always make it out in one piece. In the course of a decade, Carmen Maria Machado has established a reputation as the pre-eminent literary stylist of the strange and unsettling. ‘(If you are reading this story out loud, force a listener to reveal a devastating secret, then open the nearest window to the street and scream it as loudly as you are able.)’ The session will be led by Cardiff University’s Dr Robert Lloyd. Joining us will be Dr Christina Wilkins (University of Birmingham), Dr Megen de Bruin-Molé (Winchester School of Art at the University of Southampton), and Rosie Couch (Cardiff University). Cardiff BookTalk is delighted to invite you to our online event of Thursday 17 November 2022, on Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado.
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