Chrysalis

Anna Metcalfe

Chrysalis

Film and Creative Writing

Research output: Book/Report › Book

Abstract

She is watched by Elliot as he trains in the gym. He notices her dedication to building her body and taking up space, and he is drawn to her strength. She is observed by her mother, as she grows from a taciturn, tremulous child into a determined and distant woman, who severs all familial ties. She is observed by her former colleague Susie, who offers her sanctuary and support as she leaves her partner and her job and rebuilds her life, transforms her body, and reinvents herself online.

Each of these three witnesses to the woman desires closeness. Each is left with only the husk of who she was before she became someone else: a woman on a singular and solitary path with the power to inspire and to influence her followers, for good and ill.

An oblique, intimate novel told in lucid, beguiling prose, Chrysalis a story about solitude and selfhood, and about the blurred line between self-care and narcissism. It is about controlling the body and the mind, about the place of the individual within society and what is means when someone choses to leave society behind. It is strikingly contemporary story about the search for answers and those we trust to give them to us.

Original language	English
Publisher	Granta Books
Number of pages	304
ISBN (Electronic)	9781783789092
ISBN (Print)	9781783789085, 9781783789108
Publication status	Published - 4 May 2023

Bibliographical note

Chrysalis is an experiment in using the techniques of first person narrative perspective to examine what kinds of selves are made possible or are repressed/oppressed through social media platforms. The novel's three narrators are in turn hypnotised, horrified and liberated by the transformation of a central protagonist whose voice does not appear. This absence allows for narrative exploration of the ways in which interractions with social media content often centre the viewer's projections rather than the subject's intentions. The novel's structure, then, becomes a way of performing and probing the limitations of social media as a form of connection. At the same time, it reaffirms the value of narrative experimentation and innovation in helping readers to think critically about the roles of work, technology and art-making as potential mechanisms for social connection and social isolation in the modern world.

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https://granta.com/products/chrysalis/?binding=hardback

Cite this

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note = "Chrysalis is an experiment in using the techniques of first person narrative perspective to examine what kinds of selves are made possible or are repressed/oppressed through social media platforms. The novel's three narrators are in turn hypnotised, horrified and liberated by the transformation of a central protagonist whose voice does not appear. This absence allows for narrative exploration of the ways in which interractions with social media content often centre the viewer's projections rather than the subject's intentions. The novel's structure, then, becomes a way of performing and probing the limitations of social media as a form of connection. At the same time, it reaffirms the value of narrative experimentation and innovation in helping readers to think critically about the roles of work, technology and art-making as potential mechanisms for social connection and social isolation in the modern world.",

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N2 - She is watched by Elliot as he trains in the gym. He notices her dedication to building her body and taking up space, and he is drawn to her strength. She is observed by her mother, as she grows from a taciturn, tremulous child into a determined and distant woman, who severs all familial ties. She is observed by her former colleague Susie, who offers her sanctuary and support as she leaves her partner and her job and rebuilds her life, transforms her body, and reinvents herself online.Each of these three witnesses to the woman desires closeness. Each is left with only the husk of who she was before she became someone else: a woman on a singular and solitary path with the power to inspire and to influence her followers, for good and ill.An oblique, intimate novel told in lucid, beguiling prose, Chrysalis a story about solitude and selfhood, and about the blurred line between self-care and narcissism. It is about controlling the body and the mind, about the place of the individual within society and what is means when someone choses to leave society behind. It is strikingly contemporary story about the search for answers and those we trust to give them to us.

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Chrysalis

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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