The long field :Wales and the presence of absence, a memoir

Format
Book
Language
English (English)
Edition
First North American edition.
ISBN
9781956763676.
;
1956763678.
Library of Congress Call Number
DA722.1.P47A3 2023
Geographic Area Code
e-uk-wl
Description
xxvii, 327 pages :illustrations (some color) ;24 cm
Contents (as listed on item)
Show
System Control Number
(OCoLC)1347429242
Summary"Hiraeth is a Welsh word that's famously hard to translate. Literally, it can mean 'long field' but generally translates into English, inadequately, as 'homesickness.' At heart, hiraeth suggests something like a bone-deep longing for an irretrievable place, person, or time--an acute awareness of the presence of absence. In The Long Field, Pamela Petro braids essential hiraeth stories of Wales with tales from her own life--as an American who found an ancient home in Wales, as a gay woman, as the survivor of a terrible AMTRAK train crash, and as the daughter of a parent with dementia. Through the pull and tangle of these stories and her travels throughout Wales, hiraeth takes on radical new meanings. There is traditional hiraeth of place and home, but also queer hiraeth; and hiraeth triggered by technology, immigration, ecological crises, and our new divisive politics. On this journey, the notion begins to morph from a uniquely Welsh experience to a universal human condition, from deep longing to the creative responses to loss that Petro sees as the genius of Welsh culture. It becomes a tool to understand ourselves in our time"--Provided by publisher.
Alternative TitleWales and the presence of absence, a memoir
Uniform Title
Long field
Copies: 1 of 1 copy available
Available copies: Wis. Rapids-McMillan Memorial Library, Adult: 920 PET