The Family Silver: A Memoir of Depression and Inheritance - Hardcover

O'Brien, Sharon

 
9780226616643: The Family Silver: A Memoir of Depression and Inheritance
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0226616649 ISBN 13: 9780226616643
Verlag: University of Chicago Press, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

Finding herself struggling with depression (which, "like a rude houseguest," would come and go of its own accord), Sharon O'Brien set out to understand the origins of depression within her family, not willing to rely on the biochemical explanations and psychological accounts that prevail in contemporary American culture. Her quest took her straight into the pressures and possibilities of the American dream as it was experienced in the heart of her family - the generations who shaped and were shaped by one another and their moment in history. In The Family Silver, O'Brien travels deep into her family's past, going beyond the legacy of depression to discover courage, poetry, and grace.
O'Brien uses the biographer's methods to understand her own family's history, weaving the scattered pieces of the past - her mother's diaries and memo books, her father's reading journal, family photographs, tombstones, dance cards, hospital records, the family silver - into a story of remembrance and redemption. In the lives of her Irish American relatives, she finds that the American values of upward mobility, progress, and the pressure to achieve created both desire and depression that followed her family through generations, across the sea from the Irish famine of the 1840s to Harvard Yard in the late 1960s.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Sharon O'Brien is the John Hope Caldwell Professor of American Cultures and professor of American Studies at Dickinson College. The author of the acclaimed biography Willa Cather: The Emerging Voice, she is also the editor of the three-volume Library of America edition of Cather's work.



Sharon O'Brien is the John Hope Caldwell Professor of American Cultures and professor of American Studies and English at Dickinson College.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Finding herself struggling with depression ("like a rude houseguest, coming and going of its own accord"), Sharon O'Brien set out to understand its origins beyond the biochemical explanations and emotional narratives prevailing in contemporary American culture. Her quest for her inheritance took her straight into the pressures and possibilities of American culture, and then to the heart of her family—the generations who shaped and were shaped by one another and their moment in history. In The Family Silver, as O'Brien travels into her family's past, she goes beyond depression to discover courage, poetry, and grace.

A compassionate and engaging writer, O'Brien uses the biographer's methods to understand her family history, weaving the scattered pieces of the past—her mother's memo books, her father's reading journal, family photographs, tombstones, dance cards, hospital records, the family silver—into a compelling narrative. In the lives of her Irish-American relatives she finds that the American values of upward mobility, progress, and the pressure to achieve sparked both desire and depression, following her family through generations, across the sea, from the Irish famine of the 1840s to Harvard Yard in the late 1960s.

"Many people who write stories of depression or other chronic illnesses tell tales of recovery in the upward-mobility sense, the 'once I was ill, but now I am well' formula that we may find appealing, but doesn't match the messiness of our lives," she writes. "Mine is not such a tale. But it is a recovery tale in another sense—a story of salvage, of rescuing stories from silence." Told with humor and honesty, O'Brien's story will captivate all readers who want to know how they, and their families, have been shaped by the past.

Aus dem Klappentext

Finding herself struggling with depression ("like a rude houseguest, coming and going of its own accord"), Sharon O'Brien set out to understand its origins beyond the biochemical explanations and emotional narratives prevailing in contemporary American culture. Her quest for her inheritance took her straight into the pressures and possibilities of American culture, and then to the heart of her family―the generations who shaped and were shaped by one another and their moment in history. In The Family Silver, as O'Brien travels into her family's past, she goes beyond depression to discover courage, poetry, and grace.

A compassionate and engaging writer, O'Brien uses the biographer's methods to understand her family history, weaving the scattered pieces of the past―her mother's memo books, her father's reading journal, family photographs, tombstones, dance cards, hospital records, the family silver―into a compelling narrative. In the lives of her Irish-American relatives she finds that the American values of upward mobility, progress, and the pressure to achieve sparked both desire and depression, following her family through generations, across the sea, from the Irish famine of the 1840s to Harvard Yard in the late 1960s.

"Many people who write stories of depression or other chronic illnesses tell tales of recovery in the upward-mobility sense, the 'once I was ill, but now I am well' formula that we may find appealing, but doesn't match the messiness of our lives," she writes. "Mine is not such a tale. But it is a recovery tale in another sense―a story of salvage, of rescuing stories from silence." Told with humor and honesty, O'Brien's story will captivate all readers who want to know how they, and their families, have been shaped by the past.

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Verlag
University of Chicago Press
Erscheinungsdatum
2004
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0226616649
ISBN 13 
9780226616643
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
304
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Verantwortliche Person
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