![]() ![]() What follows is her recollection of a fateful night in which her mother was raped, an act she believes she witnessed at six years old. House of Psychotic Women begins with Janisse’s birth in Winnipeg, “an isolated city in the dead centre of Canada known for its long, harsh winters and its citizens’ tragic propensity for alcoholism and violent crime.” She was adopted soon after. The Bodily Expression Of Unspeakable Distress It moving through narratives and themes that can only make sense in the exploitation films she would later bring to the public consciousness decades after their releases. ![]() The book is imbued with pain, a sense of meandering-like Janisse’s early life as a troubled adoptee in and out of foster homes and institutions. It is as much a memoir as it is a psychology textbook, as much confession as it is Bible. ![]() But rarely pictured is the definition of topography as it relates to anatomy: the distribution of parts or features on the surface of or within an organ or organism. It draws forth imagery of the rocky terrain of maps, lakes and oceans, white mountain peaks and desolate tundras. Of the 15 words there, topography may be the most important. The full title of Janisse’s masterpiece is House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis In Horror and Exploitation Films. That is the kind of self-reflecting and self-immolating behavior the book inspires. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |