{"product_id":"a-matter-of-appearance-isbn-9781644212769","title":"A Matter of Appearance","description":"\u003cb\u003eA dazzling memoir of chronic illness that explores the fraught intersection between pain, language, and gender, by a debut author.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmily Wells spent her childhood dancing through intense pain she assumed was normal for a ballerina pushing her body to its limits. For years, no doctor could tell Wells what was wrong with her, or they told her it was all in her head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Matter of Appearance\u003c\/i\u003e, Wells traces her journey as she tries to understand and define the chronic pain she has lived with all her life. She draws on the critical works of Freud, Sontag, and others to explore the intersection between gender, pain, and language, and she traces a direct line from the “hysteria patients” at the Salpêtrière Hospital in nineteenth-century Paris to the contemporary New Age healers in Los Angeles, her stomping ground. At the crux of Wells’ literary project is the dilemma of how to diagnose an experience that is both private and public, subjective and quantifiable, and how to express all this in words.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Gorgeously written and brilliantly argued, \u003ci\u003eA Matter of Appearance\u003c\/i\u003e uses chronic illness as a lever to investigate the life of a body. It’s complex, inconclusive, and incredibly clear-eyed. Moving fluidly between histories of psychoanalysis, desire, ambition, pathology, Wells reminds us of the liminal state we all live in between sickness and health.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Chris Kraus, author of \u003ci\u003eAliens \u0026amp; Anorexia\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSummer of Hate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Drawing on the archives of sickness and her own experience as a patient, [Wells] demands a more nuanced understanding of the diagnostic categories of mental illness and biological illness”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Wells’s rare autoimmune disease is only diagnosed when she becomes an adult, having suffered since childhood from symptoms that were chalked up to her emotions. Yet she quickly begins to understand that ‘just because something has a name doesn’t mean people believe it is real.’ This follows in medical scenarios: being asked to quantify pain on a scale of 1 to 10 is a struggle, ‘unsure of how to turn a sensation into a number.’ … Writing through and of pain will inevitably include these complications of expression, and \u003ci\u003eA Matter of Appearance\u003c\/i\u003e serves a reminder that it is still worth trying to translate a perpetual scream.”– \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eArt Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Emily Wells in her new memoir \u003ci\u003eA Matter of Appearance...\u003c\/i\u003emanages to shift the issue of pain into the public sphere without pretending that it is easily legible.\"—\u003cb\u003eEmma Cohen, \u003ci\u003eLARB\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Gorgeously written and brilliantly argued, \u003ci\u003eA Matter of Appearance\u003c\/i\u003e uses chronic illness as a lever to investigate the life of a body. It’s complex, inconclusive, and incredibly clear-eyed. Moving fluidly between histories of psychoanalysis, desire, ambition, pathology, Wells reminds us of the liminal state we all live in between sickness and health.”\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e —Chris Kraus, author of \u003ci\u003eAliens \u0026amp; Anorexia\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSummer of Hate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A Matter of Appearance \u003c\/i\u003ebrilliantly gives language to the body, and measures the distance between the kinds of narratives that tend to be projected onto women’s bodies and the stories these bodies are actually telling. Perceptive, fascinating, superb.\"\u003cb\u003e—Lauren Elkin, author of \u003ci\u003eFlâneuse\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eArt Monsters\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Lyrical and enigmatic, ferocious and riveting, \u003ci\u003eA Matter of Appearance\u003c\/i\u003e is a primal scream, a memoir driven by the question of how to survive and make sense—not meaning—of a life of invisible physical suffering.  Emily Wells is a brilliant and enthralling new voice.” \u003cb\u003e—Charmaine Craig, author of \u003ci\u003eMiss Burma\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMy Nemesis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eA Matter of Appearance \u003c\/i\u003eis what the genre of 'sick lit' is missing: Wells ties up the loose ends between the rich history of hysteria, consumption, and modern stories of autoimmunity, while resisting the maudlin. Absolutely dazzling.\" \u003cb\u003e—Lena Dunham\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Precise and unflinching, yet full of beauty,\u003ci\u003e A Matter of Appearance\u003c\/i\u003e draws impressive clarity from centuries of sources, which Wells deftly aligns to illuminate the conditions of living within the contradictions of womanhood and a human body.\" \u003cb\u003e— Kamala Puligandla, author of \u003ci\u003eZigzags\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eEMILY WELLS\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer based in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in creative writing from UC Riverside and teaches writing at UC Irvine. She writes for publications including \u003ci\u003eBookforum\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eInterview Magazin\u003c\/i\u003ee, \u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe White Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFlash Art\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003ePurple Fashion \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine. She has been a magazine editor, fashion model, crime reporter, and classically trained ballet dancer.","brand":"Seven Stories Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301142122725,"sku":"NP9781644212769","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781644212769.jpg?v=1767720638","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/a-matter-of-appearance-isbn-9781644212769","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}