Erin K. Schmidt

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  • Home
  • books
    • all books
    • birds of a feather >
      • As The Crow Flies
      • Dumped for a Stripper
      • fight or flight
      • Icare
      • sanctuary
      • the birds and the bees
      • the dovecote
      • wrecked
    • body language >
      • anamnesis
      • covfefe
      • hem/o
      • hoax
      • jubblies
      • long blonde hair
      • perforate
      • THE END OF THE WASP SEASON
      • The Unfinished Blanket
      • tiny maps
      • TRIUMPH
      • veiled muse
    • forest through the trees >
      • day/night
      • house in the wood
      • hushed we met
      • little canopies
      • the coyote's gift (in shadows)
      • remember me with affection
    • sheep's clothing >
      • 1954
      • buried in memory
      • I remember how we met
      • winter stayed late
    • troubled water >
      • life is but a dream
      • loon lake
      • not this year
      • tea and water pipe
      • Tea Party
      • Telling Time
      • waves
      • what news
  • about
    • exhibitions
    • collections
    • education
  • contact

remember me with affection

I am intrigued by the use of letters in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' not only as a story telling device but also as indication of the changes in narrator throughout the story. In my book titled 'remember me with affection' (a quote from the book) I rearranged sentences from the letters in 'Frankenstein', keeping the structures intact, to compose new letters and a new narrative.  They have now become a farewell from one person to another.  There are no letters in reply, instead pages of soliloquy correspond to each and become a farewell of their own, unrealized until the end.

The book’s narrative depicts a difficult relationship with a loved one suffering from the internal and unrelenting demons of a mental illness. Photographs of the AuSable River Basin correspond to Shelley’s use of nature as safe refuge and comfort, as well as a place of despair and self destruction. The final image is upside down. The mirror like surface blurs the distinction between water and sky, between real and reflection. The screw post binding is a subtle wink to the Hollywood portrayal of a monster with bolts in his neck, an image now nearly impossible to avoid when thinking of Frankenstein's creature.
 
Inkjet printed cotton rag, inkjet printed vellum, inkjet printed matte photo paper, black board, screw post binding, edition of 20, 2018.