Writing the Virus: New Work from StatORec magazine

By Andrea Scrima

Book Overview

A singular collection of writing by 31 authors exploring the experience of Covid-19 in its initial months. Drawn from works published between mid-April and September 2020 in StatORec magazine, WRITING THE VIRUS presents a wide range of perspectives on lockdown, quarantine, social distancing, and the politicization of the virus. A keen sense of urgency prevails throughout, an understanding that the authors are chronicling something, responding to something that is changing them and the social fabric all around them. Curated by StatORec's Brooklyn- and Berlin-based editors, WRITING THE VIRUS is a unique, real-time literary response to our ongoing global health crisis. "How thrilling and comforting to witness some of our most powerful writers wielding their best weapons against 'the invisible enemy'-shimmering artistry, ruthless candor, and a fearless gaze." - Debra Jo Immergut"An important and compelling reminder of the days we might otherwise lose to the haze of the past and evidence of the myriad reckonings-public and personal-that will shape us going forward." - Oscar Villalon"Preserves the truth of a bitter, bitter time, maybe it will even help us mourn." - John Freeman"A testament to the vital role of writers-as witnesses, chroniclers, translators, synthesizers, resistors-during uncertain times, Writing the Virus will energize, enrage, and give you reasons to be hopeful." - Margot Douaihy"Vulnerable, bold, tentative, utopic, WRITING THE VIRUS gave me un-Zoomy succor from some of the best essayists writing today." - Carmen Gim nez Smith

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1944853774
• ISBN13: 9781944853778
• Release Date: October 2020
• Publisher: Outpost19
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Unique writing style, intimate portrayal.

Scrima's book was like nothing else I've read: Her device of using place as the beginning of each memory, shifting between Berlin and New York. Sentences that don't answer all your questions, but create more questions. Precise observations that take considerable time in her head space of the details of her studio, the neighborhood, sparing us nothing when recounting the light, architecture, dirt, mood, weather, psychological states, shifting relationships - all in fragments so richly detailed, it's like seeing the trees clearly in the shifting forest. This is a beautiful book about the life of an artist who lives for making art as if her life depended on it. And it does.

An open book.

I can't seem to simplify my response to this work. It's a living experience that won't sit still. I even keep rewriting the review, though I resolve to leave it alone. It raises questions not only about itself, but other works of its type and a larger cultural condition, even this format of reviewing books. So I'm limiting my remarks here. My rating speaks for itself.

A meditative must read for those who want an 'in' into an artist's life

Thoughts, desires, longings, observations, revealed through a poetic narrative which is told in bits and pieces---this is the imagist's journey one takes with the author of 'A Lesser Day', Andrea Scrima. 'A Lesser Day', exposes a piercing vision for detail and nuance, coupled with an incisive narrative that forms a picture revealed through fragments. Ms. Scrima, elevates the ordinary and shows us that in our mundane, ordinary moments, meaning is revealed, `marked' and lived. I found myself unable to read this book when my mind was occupied, for it requires silence to take in her astute observations, descriptions, and discoveries much in the same way that art demands of its' viewer. Or vice versa---when I needed a respite from my own hectic life, I found this book to be a welcome retreat. We look at a painting, but if we don't linger and let it tell us its story we miss what it has to offer. Ms. Scrima's book is much like looking at art. The longer I read it, the more I needed to be with this book, and its quiet, pensive narrative. The physical book itself is small, a little larger than a prayer book, which underscores the meditative quality that is expressed in its narrative. I have finished it, and yet feel I need to read it again, simply because the text is rich with images that underscore the beauty that is often overlooked when one speeds by.

immersed in her world

I attended Andrea Scrima's reading at KGB , in New York City. I went to see what all the stir was about rippling through the artist community re: Andrea Scrima. The place was packed with standing room only, with fans of Scrima, transfixed by her artist's mind'e eye. Could not put down "A Lesser Day," a close in view of this young artist's life.

Excellent, a must read!

"A Lesser Day," is such a heart-felt, moving, and personal journey of an artist, from an emotional point of view, as well as, the artist's day-to-day life. The big, the little, the challenges, the struggles, the triumphs! Beautifully written, I just loved this book, as it moves back and forth between time and people to capture the inner and outer details of one's life.