Naming the leper : poems / Christopher Lee Manes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Manes, Christopher Lee, author.

Series:

Barataria poetry

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Leprosy--Patients--Poetry.

Leprosy--Patients.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xi, 85 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2020]

Summary:

"Between 1919 and 1977, five of Christopher Lee Manes's relatives lived and died with an illness then referred to as "leprosy," now known as Hansen's Disease. Once diagnosed, each relative was forced to remain in exile at the National Leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana. While there, they attempted to keep some connection to the outside world by writing letters to their family members and loved ones. In Naming the Leper, Manes draws on these letters, along with medical records, the Leprosarium newsletter, and personal interviews, as he crafts documentary poems that reconstruct his relatives' daily lives during their confinement at Carville. Although much can only be imagined, their words remain factual and their feelings of loneliness, abandonment, and pain become explicit. For Manes, poetry cannot bring his relatives back to life, nor can it heal wounds nearly a century old, but it can describe sufferings and traumas caused by disease and exile"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Online version: Manes, Christopher Lee, Naming the leper

ISBN:

9780807171127

0807171123

OCLC:

1122797790