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42nd out of 249 books
—
460 voters
My rating:
add to my books
Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction
by
Sabrina Chapadjiev (Goodreads Author) ,
Nicole Blackman (Goodreads Author) , Eileen Myles , Fly , Diane DiMassa , Inga Muscio , Kate Bornstein , Toni Blackman
,
more...
A visceral look at the bizarre entanglement of destructive and creative forces, Live Through This (a finalist for the 2008 Lambda Literary Awards) is a collection of original stories, essays, artwork, and photography. It explores the use of art to survive abuse, incest, madness and depression, and the often deep-seated impulse toward self-destruction including cutting, eat...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
January 4th 2011
by Seven Stories Press
(first published April 1st 2008)
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736)
Anita Dalton
rated it
This book helped me come to terms with some of the damage I have done to myself in the course of trying to create, to write and sometimes just exist. Sometimes it just helps knowing you aren't the only one, you know.
Briefest discussion I have ever written but really nothing more needs to be said.
Briefest discussion I have ever written but really nothing more needs to be said.
The collection of writers Sabrina has pulled together is impressive, and their honesty about really hard shit in their lives is inspiring. Read it and pass it on to your friends.
the introduction is skippable, as it usually is in any compilation like this. once again i feel the editor should have kept quiet and let the pieces speak for themselves, because boy, can they speak. also fantastic is that the pieces are not limited to essays, but include poems, drawings, cartoons and photographs. it's almost a more sophisticated, art-specific version of bornstein's 'hello cruel world'. really, really powerful.
also, the one thing the intro does do is explain th...more
also, the one thing the intro does do is explain th...more
I had such higher hopes for this book. It's edited by a friend and included many all-star contributors, and I came across it at a time I thought I really needed it, but now that it's a few months later and I'm finished with it, I see that only one essay really made me sit up and take notice. It was all right, and maybe it shows that I'm further through some of my shit than I realized... maybe it's a lot more useful to folks a lot more confused and desperate than me. Still, I felt that most of th...more
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oh man. this book is perfect in so many ways!!! firstly is that it was such a thoughtful souvenir from my special lady. second is that some of my all time favourite artists are represented (nan goldin, kate bornstein, nicole blackman). and tertiarillest, it is a wonderful introduction to other, new, females that i totally relate to. their expression is so honest that it simultaneously breaks my heart and makes it soar.
20 women, 20 stories of living through or dealing with trauma and dealing with it through art and creativity. This book is amazing, especially if you have ever suffered from depression, or gone through abuse. It helped me to discuss the abuse that happened to me in my childhood with my mom, and she told me of hers when she was growing up. Brilliant!
I think these essays display an important narrative for women artists who have, at times, felt alienated or self destructive. There is a specific kind of sexism that effects artists, and that is that not only are female artists are less represented and recognized than male artists, but male self-destruction and even abusiveness towards women is romantizied greatly. Throughout history art has tended to mainly represent the ways in which males are alienating themselves through the abuse of their f...more
The introduction of this book is as amazing as the contents, which is pretty rare. Each chapter is by a different female artist who has created and has destroyed. Self-destruction, of one kind or another, a few of which I am intimatly acquainted with. What's the connection? Is it the same force that drives both urges, or is it the creative force that saves from the destructive? Sometimes it feels like we're walking a tightrope, gravity trying to pull us down on one side or the other. Which...more
This book is fantastic - it has the power to change lives. Sabrina is a visionary, as are all the empowered, fascinating, talented female artists whose work comprises this collection. A must-read for all women who've battled their emotions and their selves.
Sabrina Chapadjiev manages to assemble a collection of essays and pieces of memoir that create an alternative place for self-destruction. Sometimes accomodating, the contributors discuss the ambivalent relationship between art and pain, an affair that can both feed and starve the axels of creativity. I particularly enjoyed Daphne Gottlieb's "Lady Lazarus: Uncoupleting Suicide and Poetry," (not only for my love of the word 'uncoupleting').
I could have used a little more ...more
I could have used a little more ...more
Sorta hard to not like it since I worked so hard on this book. If you like it- check out the youtube interviews I did with the authors. Just type my last name 'Chapadjiev' into youtube and you should find em. There are interviews with Carol Queen, Nicole Blackman, Bonfire Madigan, Daphne Gottlieb, Cristy Road, Silas Howard, Inga Muscio, Stephanie Howell and others! They have some great things to say! Also- if you're at a college- I speak and do workshops on the gender, self-destruction, and...more
Oh you stinker, the contemporary sort-of-minority essay anthology, you!
So easy to read, so briefly touching on concepts of meaning, and so disposable in the end! I think I got to this by way of something else that was recommended by Dorothy Alison...or maybe because Kate Bornstein had contributed. There were some great contributions (many of them illustrated!) and a lot of meh/obvious ones and a few infuriating ones (the lady who wrote a poem about anorexia without ever having been anorexi...more
So easy to read, so briefly touching on concepts of meaning, and so disposable in the end! I think I got to this by way of something else that was recommended by Dorothy Alison...or maybe because Kate Bornstein had contributed. There were some great contributions (many of them illustrated!) and a lot of meh/obvious ones and a few infuriating ones (the lady who wrote a poem about anorexia without ever having been anorexi...more
Ab
rated it
POWERFUL. INSIGHTFUL. AMAZING. AWESOME.
This book is an excellent collection by women who create -- be it fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word, photography, performance art, graphic novels, etc. These essays, poems, photo collections, performance pieces, etc. address the pervasive issue of women+self-destruction+creativity, whether or not they've lived through something awful or relate to something women experience in their lives. Every selection provided something profound, to ...more
This book is an excellent collection by women who create -- be it fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word, photography, performance art, graphic novels, etc. These essays, poems, photo collections, performance pieces, etc. address the pervasive issue of women+self-destruction+creativity, whether or not they've lived through something awful or relate to something women experience in their lives. Every selection provided something profound, to ...more
Ciara
rated it
Recommends it for:
lady artists of all mediums, people who worship sylvia plath, the punks, counselors
i was really iffy about reading this book. the topic of creativity & self-destruction in women artists is an interesting one. (remember the bikini kill song, "bloody ice cream"? "the sylvia plath story says all girls who write must suicide. we are turning cursive letters into knives!") but it can go down a bad path, of nurturing the connections between creativity & self-destruction, implying that creative types are inherently more prone to self-injury or drug addiction or wha...more
megan
rated it
i've owned this book for a long time but resisted reading it; was reluctant to enter this kind of emotional space. then eileen myles read her essay that's in here (which is worth the cost, really) when she read in chicago, but i still couldn't bring myself to touch it. then i met the editor (whose stage name is sabrina chap) when we both performed at sappho's salon, at a time when i was finally allowing myself to enter this space again with my own writing, so i took the book off the shelf, and w...more
The essays in this volume are a disturbing repeat of what Alice Miller and Julia Cameron have been saying for years - turn your trauma into art - so why have another book on the topic? What new insights do the essayists bring that I haven't heard before? Add Fat and Furious to the mix, and honestly, there is nothimg more to say.
My disappointment lies in the fact that I was under the impression that I was buying a book about Sylvia Plath/Anne Sexton ... but I read it anyway and feel t...more
My disappointment lies in the fact that I was under the impression that I was buying a book about Sylvia Plath/Anne Sexton ... but I read it anyway and feel t...more
I really loved the themes and focus of this book, but did find the approaches uneven. Then again, narratives I perceived as being "fluffy" would frequently strike me unexpectedly. I think a volume like this is difficult because "women's" issues like the body, rape, problematic relationships, have so frequently been discussed in tired ways that it's easy to slip into those ways of narration. I was happy to see that a lot of the authors, although keeping away from theoretical/a...more
i'd recommend this book to everyone - especially women identified folks struggling with creativity & the multiple forms of self-destruction. really helped me to see how i'm not alone and i can & will live through this.
i was hoping for a "this is how i used art to help me process/get through/understand/better my self" and it was more of a "this is how fucking depressed i was when i was addicted to coke and sex" kind of book.
Pretty awesome and exactly what I wanted to be reading. How can creativity save your life? From Carol Queen to Eileen Myles, I devoured it and wanted more.
Claire S
marked it as to-read
Recommended to Claire by:
GR reviews.
For mine own perhaps, to explore-without-exploring if of interest, or her friends...
This book literally changed my life. Seriously. Read it. Now.
An anthology featuring a lot of incredible women: Eileen Myles, Diane DiMassa, Daphne Gottlieb, Nan Goldin, Inga Muscio, bell hooks...I could go on and on. The blurb says the stories are tales of survival of what life can throw you as a woman in the world (depression, addiction, abuse). I'll be curious to see if the stories are debuts, old stuff, or what.
jennifer
added it
i laughed at myself buying a book called 'live through this'! anyway it was sad, so many of the contributors still didn't seem to understand their own or women's self destruction. but annie sprinkle's cancer/love performance art almost made me cry (http://loveartlab.org/) and the bad-high-school-anorexia-poetry essay was super moving and right on.
This book makes me cry with the beauty and fearlessness that each writer shares their truth. We all need to learn to take better care of ourselves. These essays remind us that not only is this necessary, but actually possible. Also, sometimes, the pain of the journey can create powerful and inspiring art- in it's various forms.
Mariette Mchale
rated it
Man, the third or fourth essay in this is written by an African American woman who grew up in Alabama and her dad was shot - as she's writing this she's in her 50's - it is so rough to read, it just makes you sad, but it's beautiful...really enjoying it so far...
this book is really powerful and inpsiring without even a smidgen of cheesy self-helpiness, an honest, personal, and heartfelt portrayal of how women have used artistic expression to deal with, transform, and express emotional pain
I'll try to write a real review soon, for now I'll say it's pretty good, and if this is the kind of book you're interested in reading, you'll be glad you did. I saw a terrific reading at a local bookstore for this, too.
Deb
marked it as abandoned
This is a very interesting book, but the subject matter is dark. I don't know what I was expecting, based on the title, but there you go. I may pick it up again someday, but not soon.
i'd give this 3.5 stars i guess. the standouts for me were nicole blackman, bonfire madigan and nan goldin. it's hit or miss, but there's some interesting stuff here.
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