10-20
A01=Jennifer Militello
abusive marriage
adolescence
adolescents
affair
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Jennifer Militello
autobiography
autofiction
automatic-update
award winning
beautiful language
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=BM
Category=DNC
children
contemplation
COP=United States
creative nonfiction
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
divorce
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
family
family damage
family dysfunction
family legacy
family stories
family vignettes
heroin overdose
infidelity
Language_English
love
marriage
memoir
mental illness
New York
nonfiction
PA=Available
poetic memoir
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
softlaunch
superstitions
Product details
- ISBN 9781945814969
- Dimensions: 139 x 215mm
- Publication Date: 26 Sep 2019
- Publisher: Dzanc Books
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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Winner of the 2018 Dzanc Nonfiction Prize
“Knock Wood is an absolute wonder, and Jennifer Militello is at the top of her form.”
—Andre Dubus III, author of Townie and The House of Sand and Fog
In Knock Wood, the first nonfiction collection by award-winning poet Jennifer Militello, a knock on wood to ward off illness sets in motion a chain of events and memories that call into question the very structure of time.
Anchored by a wooden ring, Militello explores her life through the lens of three intertwined elements: the story of a mentally ill aunt in an abusive marriage; a high school romance with a boy who eventually dies of a heroin overdose; and an extra-marital affair characterized by an otherworldly connection. Cause and effect reverse as significant events—an arrest for a felony committed in high school, a trip by train to meet an illicit lover, and a suicide attempt on those same New York tracks—seem to influence one another outside of time and space. As Militello delicately threads each memory to the next, she explores the themes of family damage and the precarious ties of love.
Militello has been recognized many times for her work in poetry and prose, including honors such as the Yeats Poetry Prize from the W.B. Yeats Society of New York, the Betty Gabehart Poetry Prize, and the Tupelo Press First Book Award. Her collection Body Thesaurus was named one of the top poetry books of 2013 by Best American Poetry.
“Knock Wood is an absolute wonder, and Jennifer Militello is at the top of her form.”
—Andre Dubus III, author of Townie and The House of Sand and Fog
In Knock Wood, the first nonfiction collection by award-winning poet Jennifer Militello, a knock on wood to ward off illness sets in motion a chain of events and memories that call into question the very structure of time.
Anchored by a wooden ring, Militello explores her life through the lens of three intertwined elements: the story of a mentally ill aunt in an abusive marriage; a high school romance with a boy who eventually dies of a heroin overdose; and an extra-marital affair characterized by an otherworldly connection. Cause and effect reverse as significant events—an arrest for a felony committed in high school, a trip by train to meet an illicit lover, and a suicide attempt on those same New York tracks—seem to influence one another outside of time and space. As Militello delicately threads each memory to the next, she explores the themes of family damage and the precarious ties of love.
Militello has been recognized many times for her work in poetry and prose, including honors such as the Yeats Poetry Prize from the W.B. Yeats Society of New York, the Betty Gabehart Poetry Prize, and the Tupelo Press First Book Award. Her collection Body Thesaurus was named one of the top poetry books of 2013 by Best American Poetry.
Jennifer Militello is the author of A Camouflage of Specimens and Garments (Tupelo Press, 2016), called “positively bewitching” by Publishers Weekly, Body Thesaurus (Tupelo Press, 2013), named one of the top books of 2013 by Best American Poetry, and Flinch of Song, winner of the Tupelo Press First Book Award. Her poetry and nonfiction have been published widely in such journals as American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Mid-American Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, Poetry, and Tin House. She teaches in the MFA program at New England College.
