{"id":52,"date":"2020-07-03T09:27:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T13:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/?post_type=chapter&p=52"},"modified":"2020-07-10T15:36:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T19:36:50","slug":"introduction-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/chapter\/introduction-2\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction","rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"
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\r\n\r\n\u201cRelationships were for that reason utterly mysterious, they took place between two subconscious minds, and whatever the surface trickle thought was going on could not be trusted to be right.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u2015 Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAs Robinson suggests, it is likely the mysterious nature of relationships that renders them equally compelling and confusing. The authors in this chapter join a ceaseless chorus of storytellers, each relating a piece of their experience of humanity \u2014 where humans, surrounded by other humans build relationships that add to the uncertainty of life.\r\n\r\nThe selections in this chapter, like most relationships, seem like they can be summed up seamlessly. At a glance, \u201cVinegar Head\u201d looks like a story about growing up, \u201cFulva Lilium\u201d reads like a narration of growing apart, \u201cNightdove\u201d appears to be a poem of growing up surrounded, and \u201cMistake\u201d presents an account of growing up alone. And while tidy categorizations, those snippets of detail barely begin to describe the relationships happening internally or externally in the aforementioned works.\r\n\r\n\u201cVinegar Head\u201d contains interrelational behaviour such as verbal abuse from a mother to her daughter and corresponding acts of rebellion from the daughter; however, Stewart also illuminates how crucial one\u2019s inner relationship is to every outward reaction as the story explores the narrator\u2019s desire to self-express and be understood.\r\n\r\nIn \u201cFulva Lilium\u201d, a poem narrated in the first person, Smith exposes the guilt often felt when a relationship falls apart \u2014 even if it\u2019s the other person deciding to leave. The collection of what ifs<\/em> is mainly generated from an inability to be vulnerable, thinking that might maintain the relationship better. The resulting breakup demonstrates this book\u2019s titular irony \u2014 that there is so much more than we can possibly understand in life and in relationships.\r\n\r\n\u201cNightdove\u201d employs a narrator who calls upon memories to affirm their present self. To answer a question of uncertainty, Fear\u2019s narrator recalls formative relationships in their life \u2014 while the future is yet to be distributed, the past is marked and therefore comforting and instructional when deciphering life\u2019s largest questions.\r\n\r\n\u201cMistake\u201d explores how external relationships immensely affect one\u2019s relationship with the self. In this autofiction relating verbal and physical abuse, the impossibility of understanding why others act how they do is inspected before Stewart\u2019s narrator folds into themself.\r\n\r\nIn all the works forming this chapter, only one reflects upon positive or healthy relationships. Yet, the crux of each is a desire for relationship, connection. It is in this uncertainty \u2014 the inevitability of relationships being our greatest cause of both pain and joy \u2014 that Robinson\u2019s truth resounds.","rendered":"
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\u201cRelationships were for that reason utterly mysterious, they took place between two subconscious minds, and whatever the surface trickle thought was going on could not be trusted to be right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2015 Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As Robinson suggests, it is likely the mysterious nature of relationships that renders them equally compelling and confusing. The authors in this chapter join a ceaseless chorus of storytellers, each relating a piece of their experience of humanity \u2014 where humans, surrounded by other humans build relationships that add to the uncertainty of life.<\/p>\n

The selections in this chapter, like most relationships, seem like they can be summed up seamlessly. At a glance, \u201cVinegar Head\u201d looks like a story about growing up, \u201cFulva Lilium\u201d reads like a narration of growing apart, \u201cNightdove\u201d appears to be a poem of growing up surrounded, and \u201cMistake\u201d presents an account of growing up alone. And while tidy categorizations, those snippets of detail barely begin to describe the relationships happening internally or externally in the aforementioned works.<\/p>\n

\u201cVinegar Head\u201d contains interrelational behaviour such as verbal abuse from a mother to her daughter and corresponding acts of rebellion from the daughter; however, Stewart also illuminates how crucial one\u2019s inner relationship is to every outward reaction as the story explores the narrator\u2019s desire to self-express and be understood.<\/p>\n

In \u201cFulva Lilium\u201d, a poem narrated in the first person, Smith exposes the guilt often felt when a relationship falls apart \u2014 even if it\u2019s the other person deciding to leave. The collection of what ifs<\/em> is mainly generated from an inability to be vulnerable, thinking that might maintain the relationship better. The resulting breakup demonstrates this book\u2019s titular irony \u2014 that there is so much more than we can possibly understand in life and in relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cNightdove\u201d employs a narrator who calls upon memories to affirm their present self. To answer a question of uncertainty, Fear\u2019s narrator recalls formative relationships in their life \u2014 while the future is yet to be distributed, the past is marked and therefore comforting and instructional when deciphering life\u2019s largest questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistake\u201d explores how external relationships immensely affect one\u2019s relationship with the self. In this autofiction relating verbal and physical abuse, the impossibility of understanding why others act how they do is inspected before Stewart\u2019s narrator folds into themself.<\/p>\n

In all the works forming this chapter, only one reflects upon positive or healthy relationships. Yet, the crux of each is a desire for relationship, connection. It is in this uncertainty \u2014 the inevitability of relationships being our greatest cause of both pain and joy \u2014 that Robinson\u2019s truth resounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["rhenbest"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[59],"license":[],"class_list":["post-52","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-rhenbest"],"part":25,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/52\/revisions\/152"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/25"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/52\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreviewviii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}