One of Granta’s best young British novelists of 2023, Sarah Bernstein’s second novel Study for Obedience is a study in the mechanisms of exploitation enacted both within contexts of labour and intimacy
reads as an act of female confessional – a form of narrative that bears increasing cultural weight, especially sinceMeToo, but that also has its limits. How does your protagonist’s narration navigate this line between empowerment and disempowerment?MeToo but also before that, that there’s something necessarily liberatory about speaking trauma. When it came toMeToo, for example, the injunction to speak was so strong, but there was no real sense of what that might mean.
AB: This is going to sound so obnoxious, but your reference to the Catholic tradition made me think of Foucault’sAB: Foucault talks about confession as a transmission of power: you essentially give the church power because you’ve given it knowledge. Did you want to make us complicit as the receptor of this confession?
“I’m interested in the persistence of culture in the face of all of this: when it doesn’t have a place anymore but is still alive” –AB: I want to consider how you explore time in the novel. The very act of confession is about bringing the past up to speed with the present, but the narrative inis also very bound up by the seasons and an unyielding kind of time, so that linear time is both obeyed and disobeyed.
SB: I am very preoccupied with questions of rooting and rootlessness as somebody who is Jewish and whose grandparents came from Eastern Europe, but has no ties to that place. So trying to understand where I come from is complicated. I [wanted to] look at this through the narrator: what is it that you’re looking for when you return to a place of historic violence against your family?
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Jonah Hill's ex Sarah Brady accuses actor of emotional abuseJonah Hill's ex-girlfriend Sarah Brady shared several screenshots from past alleged conversations with the actor, including one in which he allegedly asked her to remove photos of herself surfing in a swimsuit from her Instagram.
Weiterlesen »
Jonah Hill's ex accuses him of emotional abuse and blasts star on social mediaIn an Instagram post, Jonah Hill’s ex-partner claimed the actor had been a ‘misogynist’ and a ‘narcissist’ during their years together. Surf instructor Sarah Brady posted messages she said they exchanged while arguing as a couple.
Weiterlesen »
Sarah Silverman Sues Maker Of ChatGPT For Copyright InfringementThe comic's suit questions if AI models can function without training themselves on protected works.
Weiterlesen »
This is why The One Show's Alex Jones thought she was 'losing' her husbandThe One Show's Alex Jones gives health update about husband Charlie on Gabby Logan's podcast after she thought she was 'losing him'.
Weiterlesen »
Niall Horan seen with Celtic strips as ex-One Direction star plays TRNSMTThe Irish-born singer was met by screams as he played hits including Slow Hands at the Glasgow Green festival.
Weiterlesen »