Autobiography of a Marguerite
Wholesale $13.00 + GST
RRP $25.00
ISBN 9780473284121
Autobiography of a Marguerite is an innovative autobiography about illness, family dysfunction, and identity, and how they can shape one another. The narrator struggles with the effects of her auto-immune illness, and struggles to separate herself from her troubled mother. The narrative that emerges from the connected prose poems is both revealing and mysterious. Fragmentation, non-linearity and the use of footnotes reflect the disruptive nature of illness and the nature of recalling memories and family patterns.
Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications. Along with Hue & Cry Journal these include Sport and Landfall, and her poems have been selected for Best New Zealand Poems. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern letters, where she was awarded the Biggs Poetry Prize for her manuscript, the first rendition of Autobiography of a Marguerite. Her latest book Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life was published by Giramondo Publishing in 2021.
Published by Hue & Cry Press, 2014
Text by Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle
Soft cover
144×215mm, upright
Wholesale $13.00 + GST
RRP $25.00
ISBN 9780473284121
Autobiography of a Marguerite is an innovative autobiography about illness, family dysfunction, and identity, and how they can shape one another. The narrator struggles with the effects of her auto-immune illness, and struggles to separate herself from her troubled mother. The narrative that emerges from the connected prose poems is both revealing and mysterious. Fragmentation, non-linearity and the use of footnotes reflect the disruptive nature of illness and the nature of recalling memories and family patterns.
Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications. Along with Hue & Cry Journal these include Sport and Landfall, and her poems have been selected for Best New Zealand Poems. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern letters, where she was awarded the Biggs Poetry Prize for her manuscript, the first rendition of Autobiography of a Marguerite. Her latest book Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life was published by Giramondo Publishing in 2021.
Published by Hue & Cry Press, 2014
Text by Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle
Soft cover
144×215mm, upright
Wholesale $13.00 + GST
RRP $25.00
ISBN 9780473284121
Autobiography of a Marguerite is an innovative autobiography about illness, family dysfunction, and identity, and how they can shape one another. The narrator struggles with the effects of her auto-immune illness, and struggles to separate herself from her troubled mother. The narrative that emerges from the connected prose poems is both revealing and mysterious. Fragmentation, non-linearity and the use of footnotes reflect the disruptive nature of illness and the nature of recalling memories and family patterns.
Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications. Along with Hue & Cry Journal these include Sport and Landfall, and her poems have been selected for Best New Zealand Poems. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern letters, where she was awarded the Biggs Poetry Prize for her manuscript, the first rendition of Autobiography of a Marguerite. Her latest book Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life was published by Giramondo Publishing in 2021.
Published by Hue & Cry Press, 2014
Text by Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle
Soft cover
144×215mm, upright
Praise
‘Marguerite presents an intriguing and moving process, propelled by formal innovation, a strong voice and syntactical play. It also shows what Butcher-McGunnigle is capable of. We should definitely look out for what she does next.’
—Landfall Review Online
‘In this profound, book-length poem, Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle undoes the self right back to the nucleus and explores an extraordinary event in her life: an anonymous illness that swamps her and the lives of her ill-at-ease family. A mother who is lean with her cooking, a philandering father, and a narrator with ever swelling wrists and limbs. Butcher-McGunnigle’s poetry evokes Anne Carson and Thalia Field. It is original, startling writing.’
—Sonja Yelich
‘Workbook for surviving illness, guide to familial dysfunction and an intersection between fact and fiction, Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s Autobiography of a Marguerite is one of the most innovative New Zealand books published in recent years.’
—Siobhan Harvey, Booknotes ‘Books of the Year 2014’
‘The inaugural James Joyce Memorial Award for unabashed, unfettered but utterly justifiable experimentation is shared by two essential books: Sam Sampson's Halcyon Ghosts (AUP) and Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle's Autobiography of a Marguerite.’
—Gregory O'Brien, Radio New Zealand ‘Poetry 2014’
‘Autobiography of a Marguerite is a grand achievement. The writing goes to the aching heart of disconnection and of longing for repair. It’s obsessive and relentless, as befits the theme, circling and re-circling the fragmented self, drawing the pieces together. Butcher-McGunnigle has created a crooked beauty out of shards.’
—Sue Wootton, takahē magazine