We’re thrilled to share that our January Book Club selection is Esmé Weijun Wang’s forthcoming essay collection The Collected Schizophrenias, out from Graywolf Press on February 5, 2019 but available to Rumpus Book Club members in just a few weeks!
Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well. Opening with the journey toward her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Wang discusses the medical community’s own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then follows an arc that examines the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life. Wang’s analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.
Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine and Intimations: Stories, writes of the collection:
A masterful braiding of the achingly personal and the incisively researched… This book is a vital, illuminating window onto the world we all already live in, but find all too easy to ignore.
Subscribe to the Rumpus Book Club by December 20 to join us in reading The Collected Schizophrenias, culminating in an exclusive online discussion with Esmé Weijun Wang about the book! And, thrill any and all readers on your list with a Rumpus gift subscription—we have 6-month and 12-month subscriptions to our incredible Book Club, and 6-month and 12-month subscriptions to the equally awesome Poetry Book Club! (And if you’re really out to impress a reader in your life, sign ‘em for both clubs here.) All subscriptions come with a PDF you can print out and slip under the tree, so these make a great last-minute gift, too.
