Under the Influence
Joanna Walsh (ed.)
ISBN: 978-1-9996219-0-2
2021, Paperback Original with French flaps, 150 Pages
[Essays]
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About the book
It has been said that we live in the golden age of the personal essay. Under the Influence extends the personal/critical essay form in terms of style, structure and approach. In these twelve pieces assembled by Joanna Walsh, each writer chooses a writer or form that has influenced their work, and responds to it in a way that not only provides a critical appreciation, but embodies, demonstrates, or holds a conversation with the nature of that influence.
With contributions from: Owen Booth | Vahni Capildeo | Lauren Elkin | Rachel Genn | Deborah Levy | Roman Muradov | Sam Riviere | Anakana Schofield | Fernando Sdrigotti | Isabel Waidner | Eley Williams | Dimitra Xidous
About the editor
Joanna Walsh is the author of seven books, including a digital novel, Seed, which has also been adapted for performance. Her latest book, Break.up, has just been published by Semiotext(e) and Tuskar Rock. Her writing has widely been published in anthologies and journals including the Dalkey Archive’s Best European Fiction 2015, Granta Magazine, Salt’s Best British Short Stories, 2014 and 2015. She writes criticism for The Guardian, Frieze, and The LARB. She is a contributing editor at 3:AM Magazine and Catapult.co, and she founded and runs #ReadWomen, described by the New York Times as a ‘rallying cry for equal treatment for women writers.’
Praise for Joanna Walsh
‘Walsh’s closest literary ally is probably Lydia Davis, with whom she shares a brevity and starkness of expression … Walsh’s refreshing humour – sometimes biting; sometimes absurd – lends her work a poignancy that is genuinely affecting.’ – Times Literary Supplement
‘Walsh’s writing has intellectual rigour and bags of formal bravery – bold intellectual work.’ – Financial Times
‘Her work trades on the literary genres of the miniature – short stories, essays, even postcards – reminiscent of Marcel Schwob, Clarice Lipsector, Roland Barthes.’ – Paris Review