Issue 17’s theme, “Dwellings,” is a contemplation of winter as a liminal, transitory period and considers the shifting configurations of the body/mind brought on by the season. The following list is a curation of texts and films spanning from 19th-century gothic fiction to its contemporary retellings, all difficult and invigorating mediations of the self.
The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
Published in 1980, The Cancer Journals is an intimate reflection of the poet’s diagnosis of breast cancer and the proceeding double mastectomy through brilliant nonfiction prose. Lorde empowers herself as a survivor of illness and leans on a network of other lesbians with breast cancer as a part of her healing process. She also explores her decision to actively reject any prosthesis and instead encourages others to embrace their shared bodily difference as a source of strength.
Lamb (2021) dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson
This is an A24 film set in Iceland centering on a couple of farmers struggling with infertility and desperate for a child when a human-sheep hybrid is born to one of their ewes. Part tense drama and part folkloric horror, Lamb asks its audience to question our assumption of what makes something human and what, outside of blood relation, constitutes a family. Filmed on location, the cinematography is breathtaking and captures the dreary yet green landscapes of the rural Nordic region, resulting in a sense of loneliness that permeates.
Tongues Untied (1989) dir. Marlon Riggs
At just under an hour of runtime, Riggs’s film manages to seamlessly weave poetry, musical performance, satire, and Black gay ethnography into a cohesive experimental documentary. His work came at a pivotal time in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis and explores topics like fetishization, homophobia in the Black church, and self-love with a humorous flair only a filmmaker like Riggs could achieve.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Turn of the Screw is a gothic novella which centers on a young governess and the two children, her parents, in the absence of their wealthy father. Her love and devotion for the pupils is challenged by the uncanny feeling that they’re hiding a terrible secret from her. To make matters worse, she sees dead servants in the courtyard and is convinced the ghosts have killed the children’s innocence. The Governess’s unreliable narration, coupled with the eerie atmosphere of a large, empty estate, makes it a suspenseful and short read.
Poor Things (2023) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Nominated for Best Picture in 2024, Poor Things is the film adaptation of a novel of the same name written by Scottish author Alasdair Gray in 1992. A retelling of Shelley’s Frankenstein, a doctor and his medical student in Victorian England bring a dead woman back to life with a fetus’s brain. Emma Stone gives a dynamic performance as the audience watches Bella Baxter develop rapidly, getting herself into trouble and adventure across continents as she rediscovers her body and enjoys the agency her controlling husband denied her in her previous life.
Dallas Knox (they/them) is a 3rd year at the University of Chicago studying religion, gender, and sexuality. They self-identify as a poet/wannabe culture critic and take a special interest in: Black women's writing, Toni Morrison, liberation theology, southern literature and contemporary art. They're also a proud Appalachian hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and therefore a lover of porches and sweet tea. tune in @ dallas.reznikoff on Instagram
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