How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences

by Sue William Silverman

Overview

Many are haunted and obsessed by their own eventual deaths, but perhaps no one as much as Sue William Silverman. This thematically linked collection of essays charts Silverman’s attempt to confront her fears of that ultimate unknown. Her dread was fomented in part by a sexual assault, hidden for years, that led to an awareness that death and sex are in some ways inextricable, an everyday reality many women know too well.
              
Through gallows humor, vivid realism, and fantastical speculation, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences explores this fear of death and the author’s desire to survive it. From cruising New Jersey’s industry-blighted landscape in a gold Plymouth to visiting the emergency room for maladies both real and imagined to suffering the stifling strictness of an intractable piano teacher, Silverman guards her memories for the same reason she resurrects archaic words—to use as talismans to ward off the inevitable. Ultimately, Silverman knows there is no way to survive death physically. Still, through language, commemoration, and metaphor, she searches for a sliver of transcendent immortality.
              

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496214096
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	03/01/2020
Series:	American Lives
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Sue William Silverman is a memoirist, poet, and teacher of writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has published several books, including Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You; Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction; The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew (Nebraska, 2014); and Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir.
 

Table of Contents

Author’s Note    
Ultima Thule    

Fate 1
Clotho
spins the thread of life
The Eternal Reign of Miss Route 17    
13 Ways of Surviving New Jersey    
Miss Route 17 Refuses to Grow Old    
The Three Fates: How Much Is the Moon Worth?     
The Remarkable Death-Defying Exploits of Miss Route 17    
Until My Number Comes Up    
Requiem for a Qwertyist    
My Death in the Family    
The Three Fates: Drawing the Shades    
A Member of the Wedding    

Fate 2
Lachesis
measures the thread of life to determine how long you live
The Sick Hypochondriac    
The Three Fates: On Tedium    
The Safe Side    
My Life as a Thanatologist    
The Janet Leigh Variations    
The Summer of Hate and Death    
Here Be Human Dragons    
Miss Route 17’s Near-Death Experience under the Boardwalk at the New Jersey Shore    
Sigilisms of Miss Route 17’s Many Hidden Talents    
Death Comes for the Poet    
Flirting with the Butcher    
The Three Fates and the Barefoot Angels    

Fate 3
Atropos
cuts the thread of life with a pair of shears to decide how someone dies
At the Terminal Gate    
Miss Route 17’s Own Graceland    
Memorabilia: My Guardian Devils and the Phantom of the Opera Gloves    
The Three Fates: When You Go    
Of Chrysanthemums, Tupperware, Cremated Remains, and FedEx-ing to the Great Beyond    
Miss Route 17’s Blue Period    
The Three Fates: Filling in the Blanks    
On the Reliance of Verbs to Survive Death    
The Queen of Panmnesia    

Acknowledgments    
Notes    
 

Editorial Reviews

"Because of the distinctive subject matter and Silverman’s vast writing  talents, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences will appeal to new and experienced readers alike; notably: it will also draw teachers of creative writing, who will cherish it for the many essays that can be taught as models of braided and segmented forms."—Jody Keisner, Hippocampus Magazine

From the Publisher

A joyously unconventional memoir written at least in part as a hedge against mortality. It will shake loose memories, invite you to ponder, and, maybe best of all, make you laugh. This is a marvelously written, imaginative, and seriously funny book.”—Abigail Thomas, New York Times best-selling author of What Comes Next and How to Like It

Abigail Thomas

"Because of the distinctive subject matter and Silverman’s vast writing  talents, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences will appeal to new and experienced readers alike; notably: it will also draw teachers of creative writing, who will cherish it for the many essays that can be taught as models of braided and segmented forms."—Jody Keisner, Hippocampus Magazine

Hippocampus Magazine - Jody Keisner

"Honoring subconscious logic, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences makes the gambit that the mysteries of the self are both keys to understanding and uncertainties to be celebrated. We become who we are without being fully conscious of our choices—probing those choices won’t give us easy answers, but the discoveries along the way will be illuminating and well worth the necessary befuddlements."—Elizabeth Kadetsky, Literary Hub

Literary Hub - Elizabeth Kadetsky

"What do we do with those memories that carry with them the ability to sink us? According to Silverman, in order to survive and grow, we have to collect them, transform them, and let them transform us."—Chanel Dubofsky, Lilith

Lilith - Chanel Dubofsky

"Silverman undertakes the questions some of us are too afraid to ask, and we find ourselves rooting for her, flying down Route 17, because in doing so we are also rooting for ourselves."—Rachel Rueckert, Columbia Journal

Columbia Journal - Rachel Rueckert

With true originality and wit, Silverman takes readers on a wild ride through time, memory, pleasure, and trauma. What remains is a deeply human portrait of one woman’s resilience and the power of her spirit. I couldn’t put it down.”—Christina Haag, New York Times best-selling author of Come to the Edge: A Love Story

Christina Haag