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Night mother : a personal and cultural history of The exorcist / Marlena Williams.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: 21st century essaysPublisher: Columbus : Mad Creek Books, an imprint of The Ohio State University Press, [2023]Copyright date: ©2023Description: vii, 232 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780814258767
  • 081425876X
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Part 1: Invocations. Mercedes McCambridge eats a raw egg ; My mother and The Exorcist ; Excavation ; The loud silence -- Part 2: Summoning the evils spirit. Six visions of the devil and his demons ; Magical mirrors ; Something sharp ; James Baldwin sees The exorcist in 1973 -- Part 3: Profession of faith. The priests of my youth -- Part 4: Laying of hands on the possessed. The operating theater ; Father Karras dreams of his mother -- Part 5: Concluding prayer of thanks.
Summary: "Blends personal narrative with cultural criticism to explore the ways The Exorcist has influenced the author's life and American culture, tracing stories of the film's stars and analyzing infamous scenes while excavating the deeper stories the film tells about faith, family, illness, anger, guilt, desire, and death"-- Provided by publisher.
List(s) this item appears in: FPL Staff's Favorite Books 2023
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 791.4372 W725 Available 33111011208218
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Never watch The Exorcist , Marlena Williams's mother told her, just as she'd been told by her own mother as a Catholic teen in rural Oregon when the horror classic premiered. And like her mother, Mary, Williams watched it anyway. An inheritance passed from mother to daughter, The Exorcist looms large--in popular culture and in Williams's own life, years after Mary's illness and death. In Night Mother, Williams investigates the film not only as a projection of Americans' worst fears in the tumultuous 1970s and a source of enduring tropes around girlhood, faith, and transgression but also as a key to understanding her mother and the world she came from.



The essays in Night Mother delve beneath the surface of The Exorcist to reveal the deeper stories the film tells about faith, family, illness, anger, guilt, desire, and death. Whether tracing the career of its young star, Linda Blair, unpacking its most infamous scenes, exploring its problematic depictions of gender and race, or reflecting on the horror of growing up female in America, Williams deftly blends bold personal narrative with shrewd cultural criticism. Night Mother offers fresh insights for both fans of the film and newcomers alike.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-232).

Part 1: Invocations. Mercedes McCambridge eats a raw egg ; My mother and The Exorcist ; Excavation ; The loud silence -- Part 2: Summoning the evils spirit. Six visions of the devil and his demons ; Magical mirrors ; Something sharp ; James Baldwin sees The exorcist in 1973 -- Part 3: Profession of faith. The priests of my youth -- Part 4: Laying of hands on the possessed. The operating theater ; Father Karras dreams of his mother -- Part 5: Concluding prayer of thanks.

"Blends personal narrative with cultural criticism to explore the ways The Exorcist has influenced the author's life and American culture, tracing stories of the film's stars and analyzing infamous scenes while excavating the deeper stories the film tells about faith, family, illness, anger, guilt, desire, and death"-- Provided by publisher.

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