Lidia Yuknavitch
Lidia Yuknavitch: A Life of Resilience and Creative Expression
Full Name and Common Aliases
Lidia Yuknavitch is a prominent American writer known for her provocative and lyrical prose.
Birth and Death Dates
Born on February 9, 1957.
Nationality and Profession(s)
American novelist, memoirist, short story writer, essayist, and educator.
Early Life and Background
Lidia Yuknavitch was born in Ohio but grew up in a troubled home marked by her father's violent behavior. Her early life experiences would later influence her writing, particularly in themes of trauma, recovery, and the human condition. After dropping out of high school, Yuknavitch earned her GED and went on to study at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Major Accomplishments
Throughout her career, Lidia Yuknavitch has received numerous awards and nominations for her work. Notably, she was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2014 for her novel "The Small Backs of Children." Her writing often explores themes of identity, trauma, and the complexities of human relationships.
Notable Works or Actions
Some of Yuknavitch's most notable works include:
"Dora: A Headcase" (2006), a novel that reimagines the life of Sigmund Freud's patient Dora in a contemporary setting.
"The Chronology of Water" (2011), a memoir that chronicles her struggles with cancer and addiction, as well as her journey toward recovery.
"The Small Backs of Children" (2015), a novel that explores the intersection of art, politics, and identity through a fictionalized account of a school massacre.Impact and Legacy
Lidia Yuknavitch's work has had a significant impact on contemporary literature. Her writing often pushes boundaries and challenges readers to confront difficult subjects head-on. As an educator, she has taught creative writing at universities such as Oregon State University and the University of Southern California.Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Lidia Yuknavitch is widely quoted and remembered for her unflinching exploration of the human condition. Her writing often captures the complexities and nuances of life, offering readers a unique perspective on the world. As a result, she has become an important voice in contemporary literature, one that continues to inspire and challenge readers to this day.Quotes
Lidia Yuknavitch's writing is characterized by its lyricism and emotional depth. Some of her most notable quotes include:
"I am not a writer; I am a water creature."
* "The body remembers what the mind forgets."
These quotes offer a glimpse into Yuknavitch's unique perspective on life, one that is marked by a deep understanding of human suffering and resilience.
As a writer and educator, Lidia Yuknavitch has made significant contributions to contemporary literature. Her work continues to inspire readers and challenge their perspectives on the world.
Quotes by Lidia Yuknavitch
Lidia Yuknavitch's insights on:
Underneath the forms of fiction and poetry, you can bet your ass the ground comes from someone’s actual life experience.
Women live their lives secretly waiting for their lives to become movies. We act like men are the ones shallow enough to desire an unending stream of beautiful women but really, if a charismatic narcissist beautiful bad boy man actually desires us, seems to choose us, we go to pieces.
The memoir as a somewhat indistinct form is absolutely true. So many of the memoirs I’ve read, and the ones I have gravitated toward most, somehow upend what I expect from memoir and the project seems greater than just the exposition of a life.
We can’t handle violence in women characters but we CAN handle what’s done to women in our present tense every second of the day worldwide? Or next door? Or in political or medical discourse? Please. That idea just makes me want to crap on a table at a very fancy restaurant.
I thought of Shakespearean chiasmus. A chiasmus in language is a crisscross structure. A doubling back sentence. A doubling of meaning. My favorite is “love’s fire heats water, water cools not love.” As a motif, a chiasmus is a world within a world where transformation is possible. In the green world events and actions lose their origins. Like in dreams. Time loses itself. The impossible happens as if it were ordinary. First meanings are undone and remade by second meanings.
Remember parts of your body are scattered in water all over the earth. Know land is made from you.
When you bleed, this word is more powerful than any word you could ever speak. It is a blood word. It binds you to animals and trees and the moon and the sun. Where men take blood in the world in hunting and war, women give blood. It is the word ne because it closes the room of a woman’s body to men.
Everyone’s last wish turned out to be love: may I be consumed by the simplicity and purity of a love story, any love, base love or heroic love or transgressive love or love that is a blind and lame and ridiculous lie – anything the opposite of alone and lonely and sexless, and the absence of someone to care about or talk to.