Gaslight

by Carol Guess

Carol Guess has composed, from glass-edged fragments of her life and her work as a creative artist, the mosaic of a woman who has fought to be her true self. A nonfiction collection wrapped around a novella called "Fat Rosie and Rose," it documents the impact of sexism and homophobia on her professional and personal lives, and uses fictional characters to play out the events. Her adversaries have been many, and formidable. There were those who dictated the ideal shape of her female body and the correct dimensions of her sexuality as she emerged from a childhood in the south, ensnared in sexual exploitation and a spiral of anorexia. The teachers who attempted to extinguish her ambition and identity as a creative artist--because female writing could not possibly rise above the trivial--played their part. And the politics of art and sexuality continue to litter her path as a lesbian academic and a serious artist. Like no other book, "Gaslight" shares each step of the interior process of creation and of failing to create: the process of becoming a writer. In this extraordinary and unforgettable work, Carol Guess brilliantly illuminates the path to art and to individuality.

Genres: LGBT, Memoir

189 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A memoir that didn't set out to be a memoir. Guess tried to write a novel, failed, and wrote a memoir around the excerpts of the novel she couldn't finish. Really, I like the memoir bits a lot better than the novel she tried to write.

I'm not used to reading my teachers' memoirs. At first, it felt overly voyeuristic, but after awhile I realized how much perspective it gave me on why she teaches as she does and how her philosophy developed.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone mentioned indulgent in one of the reviews I saw on this and I would have to agree. Except I didn't see it as such a positive thing. The truth is that whenever I was interested in a few of the things she said, she would slip away and start talking about water and souls or something. The truth is that this isn't really the kind of memoir I get behind so it just was probably not aimed at me. She clearly has beautiful prose but I did not enjoy the book as a whole at all.

[Keisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

haunting

[amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

indulgent and generous, artful and practical.