As material objects, diaries give scholars an intimate look into their subjects’ lives, including handwriting and mementos. What if diaries in the future are nothing but insubstantial digital ghosts?
Layered hand-drawn floor plans from The Sharehouse Project by Janine Mikosza and Stephanie Jones.
Janine Mikosza
In her account of displacement, childhood abuse, pain and healing, Janine Mikosza recreates from memory the spaces she has inhabited and, in doing so, reinvents the memoir form.
Rich with evocative detail, an author’s personal account of childlessness has no neat narrative arc, but is touched by grace and acceptance.
Dostoyevsky’s story ‘The Double’ explores the uncanny theme of a replica of oneself, but today’s literary foes are often amorphous ones like environmental degradation.
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Beyond the ‘literature of madness,’ the narratives about mental and physical health published today explore the interdependence of bodies and their environments.
Nora Waln lived in Germany through the rise of the Nazi Party, leaving shortly before Kristallnacht.
Everett Collection (with Amazon image inset)
Australia has a rich modern history of former prime ministers writing memoirs, partly to exact revenge and partly to secure their legacy as they see it. A Bigger Picture fits into that tradition.