Naomi and Heather begin their discussion by exploring Heather's recent questions about the function of criticism; how a person's nervous system interacts with an artwork; how theory interacts with a sense of trust and belief; how her movement training created a mode in which her body understands content first; how underlining in a book is an attempt to imprint the text in her brain, her respiration, her body; the methods of marginalia she uses to illustrate her own thought processes on revision; and the benefits of interdisciplinary discussion and exploration, with reference to her discussions and collaborations with her friend, the musical composer Reena Esmail.
Reading List + selections from Heather McCalden
Heather's marginalia came from the following texts:
Something Speaks to Me: Where Criticism Begins, Michel Chaouli
Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light, Peter Schjeldahl
Poetry and Drama, T.S. Elliot
The Perfect Critic, T.S. Eliot
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The Observable Universe -- US Edition
The Observable Universe -- UK Edition
Other work by Heather McCalden:
"A Naturally Occurring Phenomenon"
"On World AIDS Day What Does it Mean to Live in a Culture Defined by Virality?"
"Facing the Unknown with Heather McCalden"
Heather McCalden (she/her) is a writer and multidisciplinary artist working with text, image and movement. She is a graduate of the Royal College of Art and has exhibited at Young Space, Tanz Company Gervasi, Roulette Intermedium, Pierogi Gallery, National Sawdust, Testbed 1, and 99 Canal Street. In 2021 she won the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize which led to the publication of her debut memoir The Observable Universe (2024). William Gibson, author of Neuromancer, called it, ‘A gifted writer’s brilliantly innovative approach to autobiographical non-fiction, syncing a narrative of profoundly personal emotion with the invention and evolution of today’s cyberspace.’ She has written for the Financial Times Weekend Magazine, LitHub, Broadcast by Pioneer Works, and Another Man Magazine.
Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books, New York University Press, or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notesfor further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.
