On Moving
A Writer's Meditation on New Houses, Old Haunts, and Finding Home Again
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- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
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نقد و بررسی
March 16, 2009
From Percy Blythe Shelley's ultimately fatal moving habits to Elizabeth Bishop's endless search for a true home, author and professor DeSalvo chronicles the writer's quest for the perfect home in this memoir-slash-literary history. A noted Virginia Woolf biographer, DeSalvo devotes a hefty portion of the book to Woolf's journey from home to home, and her insight into the poet's turmoil and hope is fascinating. The most compelling parts of the book, however, are DeSalvo's own, both in the particulars and the big picture: "Most of my ancestors' moves, until my parents' and my generation... seem to have been caused by climate change... populations reaching critical levels, or by cataclysmic natural or historical events." Still, DeSalvo's story doesn't feel quite complete; she never adequately resolve her seeming inability to move with the fact of doing so. Early on, she remarks that, like many, she was "blindsided by moving's almost inevitable consequences," and by the book's end she seems not much closer to illumination. Still, her narrative is thought-provoking, and should interest lit fans struggling with a recent or impending move.
March 15, 2009
DeSalvo ("Writing as a Way of Healing") was prompted to write this book when moving stirred many unexpected emotions. She researched the house-moving experiences of literary figures she admires and here presents her findings and explores her own feelings and family history. DeSalvo analyzes biographical material on figures as varied as Virginia Woolf, Sigmund Freud, and Mark Doty and considers how they approached and were affected by the experience of moving house. She discovers that some, such as Woolf, were energized and drawn to periods of renewed literary activity. Others, like D.H. Lawrence, were restless and dissatisfied and felt the urge to move on often. DeSalvo writes thoughtfully and compassionately and suggests that we need to recognize moving as the highly stressful and potentially traumatic experience it is. Producing this book helped her come to terms with her move; it will prove a useful and therapeutic work for others faced with the same upheaval. For public libraries.Rebecca Bollen Manalac, Sydney, Australia
Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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