Recovering Your Story

“Great art discovers for us who we are,” writes eminent literature professor and critic Arnold Weinstein in this magisterial new book about how we can better uncover and understand our own stories by reading five major modern writers. Professor Weinstein, author of the highly acclaimed A Scream Goes Through the House, has spent a lifetime guiding students through the work of great writers, and in a volume that crowns his career, Weinstein invites us to discover ourselves–our perceptions, our dreams, our own elusive, deepest stories–in the masterpieces of modernist fiction. Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner: the very names sound intimidating. Yet as Weinstein argues with wit and passion, the works of these authors, and of their contemporary heir Toni Morrison, are in fact shimmering mirrors of our own inner world and most intimate thoughts. Novels such as Remembrance of Things Past, Ulysses, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom!, and Beloved allow us to explore the inner worlds of human feeling and bring us face-to-face with our own deepest selves and desires. Weinstein decodes these great novels, and he shows how to read them to understand human beings–the way our minds and hearts actually work. This is what Weinstein means by “recovering your story.” Weinstein illuminates the complex pleasures woven into these peerless narratives. Beneath the slow, sensual cadences of Proust he finds an edgy erotic tension as well as a remarkably crisp depiction of the timeless world inside the self. Joyce’s Ulysses, in Weinstein’s brilliantly original reading, is a protean linguistic experiment that forces us to view both our bodies and our minds in a radically new–and hilariously funny–light. His analysis of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse circles back again and again on Woolf’s depiction of the importance of relationships in knowing the self. Faulkner, argues Weinstein, is at once our greatest tragedian and our darkest comedian, a novelist who captures both the agony and absurdity of consciousness in a time of social and moral disintegration. Finally, in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Weinstein explores the legacy of modernism in a contemporary novel, as Morrison brings the body into the literary picture, confronting how the body affects not only our fundamental concept of self, but also consciousness itself. In this magnificent work of literary appreciation and exploration, Weinstein makes the astonishing discovery of the self as a part of the joy of reading great modernist fiction, even as he makes these powerful works understandable, accessible, indeed imperative for all adventurous readers.

Imagine you have found the ideal new home for yourself and your young daughter after several years of upheaval. You can't believe your luck! Not only is the new house wonderful, but your handsome (single) neighbour introduces himself to you within the first week of your arrival and there is more than a hint of romance in the air. Then - the unthinkable happens. A home invasion and rape. Just six months after moving in. Not My Story traces the tumultuous journey of the author through the foreign landscape of rape survivor. It follows the twists and turns of the police investigation, from the gruelling statement-taking marathon to the comprehensive forensic examination on the morning of the assault. The depressing and traumatising process of creating an identikit image which yielded no result. The book explores how rape trauma affects us and documents from the inside one person's recovery process. The title asserts the author's conviction that survivors do not have to be defined by the actions of others. After the perpetrator's eventual capture the justice process began and here the glaring omissions of the victim's needs were all too apparent as the legal machinery ground into action. The rape raised so many questions about crime, prisons and the possibilities of restorative justice, and eventually the author braved a mediation conference with the unknown perpetrator 6 years after the assault. From the very morning of the assault, the author was gripped by the need for "something good" to come out of the atrocity. She tried working with the media, giving evidence to an Inquiry, and spent countless hours volunteering for grassroots organisations to introduce advocacy into the service delivery mix. She learned the hard way that more than good intent is required to bring about service enhancements in an area few people want to talk about. Not My Story is a kitchen sink memoir featuring a home invasion, rape, social and restorative justice, parenting and a love affair. If you have been assaulted, this book may speak to you; it is for you. If you have never been assaulted, this book will help you to support loved ones who have gone through this profoundly wounding experience. We need to talk about this stuff.

"Great art discovers for us who we are," writes literature professor and critic Weinstein in this book about how we can better uncover and understand our own stories by reading five major modern writers who "reinvent the novel by exploding our sense of what we are." He invites us to discover our perceptions, our dreams, our own elusive, deepest stories in these masterpieces of modernist fiction. As he argues with wit and passion, these works are in fact shimmering mirrors of our own inner world and most intimate thoughts. He decodes great novels, illuminates the complex pleasures woven into these peerless narratives, and shows how to read them to understand human beings-the way our minds and hearts actually work. This is what Weinstein means by "recovering your story." He makes these powerful works understandable, accessible, indeed imperative for all adventurous readers.--From publisher description.

Will empower readers to address abuse issues in their own lives and move them to understand the resulting deep emotional matrix that results from abuse and the incredible power of an individual’s ability to recover and embrace life.

Trust in the Unmerited Gift of God’s Grace You can’t escape the inevitable crises that will face you throughout your lifetime. Whether it’s health problems, emotional issues, career challenges, gut-wrenching losses, or other failures, these experiences can destroy your morale and lead you into despair. Some crises may be a result of your own choices, while others may be completely out of your control. Whatever the source, there is a lasting solution that comes to you free of charge from above: God’s amazing grace. In Grace Revealed, you will:Experience real-life stories of others who discover they are not alone and that relief is within their grasp.See how devastating afflictions can be overcome through faith in Jesus and His love, mercy, and grace.Learn how God’s grace transforms lives and leads you into enduring and rewarding Christian service.Be inspired to encourage others who are suffering but cannot seek help on their own. Read these undeniable, modern-day examples of God’s loving grace and its transformative power, and discover that God is always present in your time of need.

This art exhibition catalog accompanies Telling My Story at the Edge of Recovery from Homelessness, an art exhibition and educational forum that explores the journey of recovery by eight older African American women from homelessness in Detroit. It combines the creation of coneptual portraits by international artist/writer/scholar Mara Jevera Fulmer, with research activities by Drs. Olivia G.M. Washington and David P. Moxley and the TMS participants' personal perspectives and captured issues in their own words and frames of reference. As a result, it is hoped that it will lead to a greater understanding of the serious nature of this social problem in the United States, as well as to developing potential solutions and approaches to its prevention.

Mark as Recovery Story interprets the Gospel of Mark in terms of alcoholism and Twelve-Step recovery. Identifying numerous previously unrecognized ambiguities in the gospel's Greek text, John Mellon portrays Mark's mysterious "insider" audience as a fellowship of ex-inebriates turned waterdrinkers, alcoholics whose spirituality of powerlessness resembled that of Alcoholics Anonymous today. Mellon discovers in Mark, the most enigmatic of the Jesus narratives, genre features of the former drunkard's sobriety story, and he reconstructs the first-person story Jesus would have told on his return to Galilee, culminating in his Last Supper words about wine and his Gethsemane prayer for removal of the cup.

You're anxious all the time, experiencing panic attacks over and over, and maybe afraid to leave your house or to be left alone for even a few minutes.. You are avoiding simple things like driving, eating in restaurants, attending family functions, or going to the supermarket. You are terrified of the next wave of anxiety or the next panic attack. Your anxiety problems are ruining your relationships, your family life, and your career. Your anxiety problems have you afraid, confused, lost, and feeling hopeless. How did you get here? What went wrong? You've tried so many things, but nothing has cured your anxiety? What can you do now? The Anxious Truth is a step-by-step guide to understanding and overcoming the anxiety problems that have plagued you for so long. This book, written by a former anxiety sufferer, best-selling author of "An Anxiety Story", and host of the The Anxious Truth podcast will walk you through exactly how you got to where you are today, why you are not broken or ill, and what the true nature of your anxiety disorder is. Next, the book will walk you through what it takes to solve your anxiety problems, how to make an anxiety recovery plan, then how to correctly execute that plan. The Anxious Truth isn't always what you want to hear, but it's what you NEED to hear in order to solve this problem once and for all and move toward the life you so desperately want. Based firmly on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapies that have been shown over decades to be most effective in treating anxiety problems, the Anxious Truth will teach you how to move past your anxiety symptoms, past endless digging for hidden "root causes", and into an action oriented plan that will help your brain un-learn the bad reaction and fear habits that have gotten you into this predicament. The Anxious Truth will take the cognitive mechanism that got you into a corner, throw it in reverse, and use it to your advantage, backing you out of this jam and into a life free from irrational fear and needless avoidance. More than just a book, The Anxious Truth goes hand-in-hand with The Anxious Truth podcast (https://theanxioustruth.com) and the growing and vibrant social media community surrounding it. Read the book, listen to five years worth of free podcasts chock full of helpful advice and information, and join a large online community of fellow anxiety sufferers that are done talking about this problem and ready to actually take action to solve it. Change is possible. No matter how long you've suffered with your anxiety issues, you can get better. The Anxious Truth will tell you what you need to hear and will arm you with the information, understanding, and skills you need to get the job done. Let's do this together!