Her Body and Other Parties

Her Body and Other Parties is a 2017 short story collection by Carmen Maria Machado, published by Graywolf Press.[1] It won the Shirley Jackson Award[2], and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.[3] The story "The Husband Stitch" was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette.[4]

Her Body and Other Parties
AuthorCarmen Maria Machado
CountryAmerica
LanguageEnglish
GenreShort stories
PublisherGraywolf Press
Publication date
2017
Media typePaperback
Pages264
ISBN978-1-55597-788-7

Development

In an interview with The Paris Review, Machado talked about her inspiration for the story "Especially Heinous" where she re-imagined episodes of Law & Order: SVU: "My initial idea was to rewrite the existing episode descriptions in slightly surreal versions. So I looked up the little capsule descriptions of the episodes, and I was trying to manipulate them to make them surreal, but it was too restrictive. Then I realized that all the titles are one-word titles. And what if I just use the titles? I put only the titles all in a row, and then just started writing and imagining Benson and Stabler."[5]

Content
Story Originally published in
"The Husband Stitch" Granta[6]
"Inventory" Strange Horizons[7]
"Mothers" Interfictions[8]
"Especially Heinous" The American Reader[9]
"Real Women Have Bodies" Original
"Eight Bites" Gulf Coast[10]
"The Resident" Original
"Difficult At Parties" Original

Literary significance and reception

Critical reviews were extremely positive.

Parul Sehgal wrote, "It’s a wild thing, this book, covered in sequins and scales, blazing with the influence of fabulists from Angela Carter to Kelly Link and Helen Oyeyemi, and borrowing from science fiction, queer theory and horror."[11] A review in Slate said, "In eight searingly original stories, Machado uses the literary techniques of horror and science fiction to expose the truth about our modern parables: that they’re as grotesque and enchanting as any classic fairy tale."[12]

Novelist Kathleen Rooney, writing in The Chicago Tribune, wrote, "In her twistedly original and thrilling debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blends both the terrifying and the horrible into a psychologically realistic and darkly comic mixture."[13]

An NPR review also compared her to Angela Carter, and concluded, "Machado seems to answer: The world makes madwomen, and the least you can do is make sure the attic is your own."[14]

References
  1. "Her Body and Other Parties | Graywolf Press". www.graywolfpress.org. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  2. "The Shirley Jackson Awards » 2017 Shirley Jackson Award Winners". Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  3. "Her Body and Other Parties". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  4. Fictions, © 2019 Science; America, Fantasy Writers of; SFWA®, Inc; Fiction, Nebula Awards® are registered trademarks of Science; America, Fantasy Writers of; SFWA, Inc Opinions expressed on this web site are not necessarily those of. "Carmen Maria Machado". The Nebula Awards®. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  5. Kane, Lauren (2017-10-03). "Pleasure Principles: An Interview with Carmen Maria Machado". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  6. "The Husband Stitch". Granta Magazine. 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  7. words, Carmen Maria Machado Issue: 14 January 2013 3512 (2013-01-14). "Inventory". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  8. "MothersCarmen Maria Machado". Interfictions Online. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  9. "Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order SVU | The American Reader". theamericanreader.com. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  10. "Eight Bites - Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts". texas.gulfcoastmag.org. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  11. Sehgal, Parul (2017-10-04). "Fairy Tales About the Fears Within". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  12. Caplan-Bricker, Nora (2017-10-16). "This Stunning Debut Collection Is Full of Fairy Tales That Feel Eerily Apt for 2017". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  13. Rooney, Kathleen. "Carmen Maria Machado's debut collection thrills". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  14. "'Her Body And Other Parties:' Be Your Own Madwoman". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
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