- 306 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
A scholar's memoir of growing up and the powerful forces that shaped her as a woman and a writer; "her story will inspire all women" (
Library Journal).
In this honest and outspoken reflection on her childhood, Louise DeSalvo explores the many ways literature saved her, both emotionally and practically. Born to Italian immigrants during World War II, DeSalvo takes readers back to the emotional chaos of her 1950s girlhood in New Jersey, growing up with her authoritative, distant father, her depressed mother, and a sister who later committed suicide. Reading and research were an anchor to her then, and widened her choices about her future in ways that weren't otherwise available to girls of that era.
A Virginia Woolf scholar, DeSalvo wrote a ground-breaking study on the impact of childhood sexual abuse on the reclusive writer. Here, she mines her own early days—and her adolescent obsession with Hitchcock's Vertigo—in an attempt to give her own life's path "some shape, some order."
Publisher's Weekly said, "Her clarity of insight and expression make this [memoir] an impressive achievement," and the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed, "DeSalvo has one of the most refreshing feminist voices around."
In this honest and outspoken reflection on her childhood, Louise DeSalvo explores the many ways literature saved her, both emotionally and practically. Born to Italian immigrants during World War II, DeSalvo takes readers back to the emotional chaos of her 1950s girlhood in New Jersey, growing up with her authoritative, distant father, her depressed mother, and a sister who later committed suicide. Reading and research were an anchor to her then, and widened her choices about her future in ways that weren't otherwise available to girls of that era.
A Virginia Woolf scholar, DeSalvo wrote a ground-breaking study on the impact of childhood sexual abuse on the reclusive writer. Here, she mines her own early days—and her adolescent obsession with Hitchcock's Vertigo—in an attempt to give her own life's path "some shape, some order."
Publisher's Weekly said, "Her clarity of insight and expression make this [memoir] an impressive achievement," and the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed, "DeSalvo has one of the most refreshing feminist voices around."
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Table of contents
- 1. Cover Page
- 2. Title Page
- 3. Copyright Page
- 4. Dedication
- 5. Acknowledgments
- 6. Table of Contents
- 7. Introduction
- 8. Notes
- 10. Definitions Page
- 11. Epigraph
- 12. Prologue
- 13. Chapter One: Fixing Things
- 14. Chapter Two: My Sister’s Suicide
- 15. Chapter Three: Combat Zones
- 16. Chapter Four: Finding My Way
- 17. Chapter Five: Safe Houses
- 18. Chapter Six: Colored Paper
- 19. Chapter Seven: Spin the Bottle
- 20. Chapter Eight: Boy Crazy
- 21. Chapter Nine: Vertigo
- 22. Chapter Ten: The Still Center of the Turning Wheel
- 23. Chapter Eleven: Anorexia
- 24. Chapter Twelve: A Portrait of the Puttana as a Woman in Midlife
- 25. Chapter Thirteen: Personal Effects
- 26. About the Author
- 27. About the Feminist Press
- 28. Also Available from the Feminist Press
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Yes, you can access Vertigo by Louise DeSalvo in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Social Science Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.