Elegies for Uncanny Girls

by Jennifer Colville, Melanie Rae Thon, Deb Olin Unferth

Overview

Unsettling and perceptive, these short stories challenge American girlhood in all its delusions, conflicting messages, and treacherous terrain. Wide- and wise-eyed, mysterious girls leave their realities behind for strange and slightly unreal places at the edges of the country. Alternatively they hover over their Midwestern homes in interior worlds of their own creation. The stories in Elegies for Uncanny Girls stand at a boundary where both the girls' bodies and their tales are either their own or laid claim to by the culture and characters that surround them. A young woman whose body continually shrinks and expands moves to Los Angeles to make a movie about tragic merpeople; bewildered and seeking guidance, a new mom strikes up a conversation with a woman with detachable hands; and spurred on by a new ally who might just be a figment of her imagination, a girl decides she can choose her own friends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253024299
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	02/20/2017
Series:	Break Away Books
Pages:	142
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jennifer Colville is the founding editor of PromptPress, a journal for visual art. She holds an MFA from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. She lives in Iowa City with her husband and two children.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Other Mothers
*
Susan:
Costume
Center
*
Caroline
Audra
Melissa
When Maggie Thinks of Matt
Jill, or The Big Little Lady
Dora
Winona

Credits
Book Club Guide

What People are Saying About This

"The only thing more uncanny than these girls is Colville's ability to arrest the heart, turn a phrase, turn an idea."

Karen Brennan

An extraordinary book whose time has come—no other book takes on the challenges of womanhood as bravely and passionately as Elegies for Uncanny Girls does. In short, I don't know of another book in our post-millennial era that captures with such intelligence the "uncanny" sensibilities of "girls," of all ages.

Melanie Rae Thon

Gorgeously terrifying and magically perceptive, Jennifer Colville's brilliant elegies spark the mind and ignite the senses, exposing the secret, hyperreal experiences of girls and young women negotiating the treacherous terrain of a world where others see them as victims or monsters, virgins, nymphets, or soon-to-be spinsters—where they know themselves as miraculous, beautiful and vast, dangerously potent. For uncanny girls the body is not a limit, but a multiverse of thrilling possibilities!

Deb Olin Unferth]]>

In lyrical, playful prose Colville explores our innermost irrational urges and jealousies: family life in all its complexities. The characters in these stories are heartbroken and twitching but ready for more, and it is a delight to watch them tremble, puzzle, hope, forgive.

Zachary Tyler Vickers

The only thing more uncanny than these girls is Colville's ability to arrest the heart, turn a phrase, turn an idea.

Bethany Schultz Hurst

Elegies for Uncanny Girls is a smart exploration of boundaries between place and body, with a particular emphasis on gender identity and female sexuality. Colville's beautiful work with imagery serves to advance the stories and the characters are engaging and compassionately written. Her subtlety of approach brings a welcome and exciting variation to the genre.

George Saunders

An electrifying debut: wild, wry, wise, and a little terrifying in the bold truths it tells. Colville is a bountiful and precise stylist, honing in on the vital questions with freshness and verve.

George Saunders]]>

An electrifying debut: wild, wry, wise, and a little terrifying in the bold truths it tells. Colville is a bountiful and precise stylist, honing in on the vital questions with freshness and verve.

Zachary Tyler Vickers]]>

The only thing more uncanny than these girls is Colville's ability to arrest the heart, turn a phrase, turn an idea.

B.J. Hollars]]>

Jennifer Colville's stories hover somewhere between miracle and metaphor, inhabiting a landscape both foreign and familiar. They are stories of motherhood, daughterhood, sisterhood, and the complexity of occasionally taking on all of these roles at once. Don't let the title fool you—while Colville's stories may be elegies, her characters remain wondrously alive.

Deb Olin Unferth

In lyrical, playful prose Colville explores our innermost irrational urges and jealousies: family life in all its complexities. The characters in these stories are heartbroken and twitching but ready for more, and it is a delight to watch them tremble, puzzle, hope, forgive.

Melanie Rae Thon]]>

Gorgeously terrifying and magically perceptive, Jennifer Colville's brilliant elegies spark the mind and ignite the senses, exposing the secret, hyperreal experiences of girls and young women negotiating the treacherous terrain of a world where others see them as victims or monsters, virgins, nymphets, or soon-to-be spinsters—where they know themselves as miraculous, beautiful and vast, dangerously potent. For uncanny girls the body is not a limit, but a multiverse of thrilling possibilities!

Karen Brennan]]>

An extraordinary book whose time has come—no other book takes on the challenges of womanhood as bravely and passionately as Elegies for Uncanny Girls does. In short, I don't know of another book in our post-millennial era that captures with such intelligence the "uncanny" sensibilities of "girls," of all ages.

Bethany Schultz Hurst]]>

Elegies for Uncanny Girls is a smart exploration of boundaries between place and body, with a particular emphasis on gender identity and female sexuality. Colville's beautiful work with imagery serves to advance the stories and the characters are engaging and compassionately written. Her subtlety of approach brings a welcome and exciting variation to the genre.

B.J. Hollars

Jennifer Colville's stories hover somewhere between miracle and metaphor, inhabiting a landscape both foreign and familiar. They are stories of motherhood, daughterhood, sisterhood, and the complexity of occasionally taking on all of these roles at once. Don't let the title fool you—while Colville's stories may be elegies, her characters remain wondrously alive.

Editorial Reviews

11/21/2016
The 10 resonant tales in Colville’s debut depict the inner lives of mothers, daughters, sisters, brothers, and the occasional best friend. The opener, “Other Mothers,” tells the story of a newly minted Ph.D.’s desperate worry for her infant, with knowing wit and exceptional figurative language. In “Center,” an aspiring poet/scholar visits her brother, a struggling artist now supported by his wife, and Colville’s crisp, revealing dialogue delves into the adoration and resentment of siblinghood. Sibling strife also informs the shorter “Costume” and “Dora,” and the longer “Winona,” in which the titular teenager comes of age surrounded by her overly enamored younger brother, her unintentionally caustic mother, and Norm, her symbolically named father, who objectifies his wife and daughter while depending on their domestic labor. A few stories feature fantastical elements—Jill in “Jill, or the Big Little Lady,” for instance, fluctuates from Barbie-sized to giantess—but these daring inventions don’t always pay off. The endings, likewise, range from the transcendent benediction of the wistful quasi-romance “When Maggie Thinks of Matt” to the inelegant moral of “Audra,” a playground drama about friendship and class. Still, the book as a whole is brisk, satisfying, and fiercely observant. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Colville's prose shines when it is at its most lyrical and most psychologically probing. . . . when Colville is at her best, we'll believe whatever she tells us."—Kirkus Reviews

"Brisk, satisfying, and fiercely observant."—Publishers Weekly

"Colville's elegies are equal parts human and hopeful, fragile and feminine. They are, in the end, stories that give back agency to women and young girls in the specific areas they need it most."—The Rumpus

"An electrifying debut: wild, wry, wise, and a little terrifying in the bold truths it tells. Colville is a bountiful and precise stylist, honing in on the vital questions with freshness and verve."—George Saunders, author of Tenth of December: Stories

"Gorgeously terrifying and magically perceptive, Jennifer Colville's brilliant elegies spark the mind and ignite the senses, exposing the secret, hyperreal experiences of girls and young women negotiating the treacherous terrain of a world where others see them as victims or monsters, virgins, nymphets, or soon-to-be spinsters—where they know themselves as miraculous, beautiful and vast, dangerously potent. For uncanny girls the body is not a limit, but a multiverse of thrilling possibilities!"—Melanie Rae Thon, author of Voice of the River

"In lyrical, playful prose Colville explores our innermost irrational urges and jealousies: family life in all its complexities. The characters in these stories are heartbroken and twitching but ready for more, and it is a delight to watch them tremble, puzzle, hope, forgive."—Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the Sandinistas

"Elegies for Uncanny Girls is a smart exploration of boundaries between place and body, with a particular emphasis on gender identity and female sexuality. Colville's beautiful work with imagery serves to advance the stories and the characters are engaging and compassionately written. Her subtlety of approach brings a welcome and exciting variation to the genre."—Bethany Schultz Hurst, author of Miss Lost Nation

"The only thing more uncanny than these girls is Colville's ability to arrest the heart, turn a phrase, turn an idea."—Zachary Tyler Vickers, author of Congratulations on Your Martyrdom!

"Jennifer Colville's stories hover somewhere between miracle and metaphor, inhabiting a landscape both foreign and familiar. They are stories of motherhood, daughterhood, sisterhood, and the complexity of occasionally taking on all of these roles at once. Don't let the title fool you—while Colville's stories may be elegies, her characters remain wondrously alive."—B.J. Hollars, author of This Is Only a Test

"An extraordinary book whose time has come—no other book takes on the challenges of womanhood as bravely and passionately as Elegies for Uncanny Girls does. In short, I don't know of another book in our post-millennial era that captures with such intelligence the "uncanny" sensibilities of "girls," of all ages."—Karen Brennan, author of Monsters

From the Publisher

"Colville's elegies are equal parts human and hopeful, fragile and feminine. They are, in the end, stories that give back agency to women and young girls in the specific areas they need it most."

The Rumpus

2016-11-07
Ten stories that reveal the strangeness and beauty of female experience.Rarely has a book's title set readerly expectations as well as the title of Colville's debut collection of short stories. "Elegies" recalls that form in poetry; "uncanny" points to psychology. And, indeed, Colville's prose shines when it is at its most lyrical and most psychologically probing. But also like the stories here, when the words in the title are all put together, meaning can be elusive. In "Other Mothers," the opening story, a new mother fights debilitating anxiety about her newborn's safety: "I sneak to her crib and hold my finger under her nose to see if I can feel the push of air, but her nostrils are merely decorative! The whorl on the door of a seashell, two holes in a button." One day, she runs into another mother in a local cafe whose hands detach at the wrists. This sums up Colville's M.O.: in the midst of beautiful writing and psychological acuity, the writing makes fabulist moves that end up feeling secondary in the face of Colville's clear strengths. In "Jill, or The Big Little Lady," a woman who randomly changes size and shape pitches a movie about mermaids to two movie producers in LA. In "Audra," a little girl befriends a possibly imaginary playmate who boosts her self-esteem. But the most affecting moments of the collection come when Colville is making more ordinary gestures. A budding writer fixates on how she'll fashion a seduction by her writing teacher into a story in "Details," while in "Winona," a family comes unglued when the teenage girl at its heart begins to express her sexuality. Readers may not be quite sure why these girls are uncanny, but when Colville is at her best, we'll believe whatever she tells us. An inconsistent, but frequently luminous, debut.

Kirkus Reviews