motherhood

“Hyperconsciousness of the Historical Instability of Words”: An Interview with Monica Youn
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“Hyperconsciousness of the Historical Instability of Words”: An Interview with Monica Youn

ByMatthew Thorburn

Monica Youn’s poems are precise, sharp-edged and fleet-footed; they always seem to be moving in three different directions at once. She is the author of three books of poems: Blackacre, Barter, and Ignatz, and her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. A former attorney, she now teaches at Princeton and in the MFA program at Warren Wilson. We caught up via email at the start of the new year to talk about the similarities between poets and lawyers, her latest book, and what might be her next one.

Review: A WOMAN OF PROPERTY by Robyn Schiff
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Review: A WOMAN OF PROPERTY by Robyn Schiff

ByPaul Scott Stanfield

A new kind of writing about motherhood may be emerging. Rachel Zucker’s and Arielle Greenberg’s Home/Birth, Brenda Shaughnessy’s Our Andromeda, Eula Biss’s On Immunity, and Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, for example, are conscious in a contemporary way about new possibilities of childbearing and parenting, about choices and agency, yet also connect to tradition. Robyn Schiff’s new book adds another dimension to this emergent canon by summoning the uncanny.

Baby feet on pink blanket.

From Swaddles to Slang: Creative Problem Solving in Translation and Motherhood

ByYardenne Greenspan

In late February I finished up the translation of a novel. In mid-March my son was born. Caring for a baby is not all too different than dealing with a challenging translation, though granted the hours are less convenient and the boss often poses unreasonable demands. In both cases there is proper procedure—first draft, dictionary…