How to Tell When We Will Die by Johanna Hedva
From one of the most influential voices in disability activism comes an essay collection that detonates a bomb in our collective understanding of care and illness, showing us that sickness is a vibrant part of life.
- Sale Date
- ISBN
- 9781638933533
- Page Count
- 384
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 5½ x 8¼
- Imprint
- Hillman Grad Books
Meet the Author
Johanna Hedva
“A book for the moment and for the ages. It’s questing, pissed, propulsive, funny, generous, pervy, and original—full of love and pain in all their entwined glory.” —Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts
WINNER OF THE AMBER HOLLIBAUGH AWARD FOR LGBTQ+ SOCIAL JUSTICE WRITING
The long-awaited essay collection from one of the most influential voices in disability activism that detonates a bomb in our collective understanding of care and illness, showing us that sickness is a fact of life.
In the wake of the 2014 Ferguson riots, and sick with a chronic condition that rendered them housebound, Johanna Hedva turned to the page to ask: How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can’t get out of bed? It was not long before this essay, “Sick Woman Theory”, became a seminal work on disability, because in reframing illness as not just a biological experience but a social one, Hedva argues that under capitalism—a system that limits our worth to the productivity of our bodies—we must reach for the revolutionary act of caring for ourselves and others.
How to Tell When We Will Die expands upon Hedva’s paradigm-shifting perspective in a series of slyly subversive and razor-sharp essays that range from the theoretical to the personal—from Deborah Levy and Susan Sontag to wrestling, kink, mysticism, death, and the color yellow. Drawing from their experiences with America’s byzantine healthcare system, and considering archetypes they call The Psychotic Woman, The Freak, and The Hag in Charge, Hedva offers a bracing indictment of the politics that exploit sickness—relying on and fueling ableism—to the detriment of us all.
With the insight of Anne Boyer’s The Undying and Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams, and the wit of Samantha Irby, Hedva’s debut collection upends our collective understanding of disability. In their radical reimagining of a world where care and pain are symbiotic, and our bodies are allowed to live free and well, Hedva implores us to remember that illness is neither an inconvenience or inevitability, but an enlivening and elemental part of being alive.
WINNER OF THE AMBER HOLLIBAUGH AWARD FOR LGBTQ+ SOCIAL JUSTICE WRITING
The long-awaited essay collection from one of the most influential voices in disability activism that detonates a bomb in our collective understanding of care and illness, showing us that sickness is a fact of life.
In the wake of the 2014 Ferguson riots, and sick with a chronic condition that rendered them housebound, Johanna Hedva turned to the page to ask: How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can’t get out of bed? It was not long before this essay, “Sick Woman Theory”, became a seminal work on disability, because in reframing illness as not just a biological experience but a social one, Hedva argues that under capitalism—a system that limits our worth to the productivity of our bodies—we must reach for the revolutionary act of caring for ourselves and others.
How to Tell When We Will Die expands upon Hedva’s paradigm-shifting perspective in a series of slyly subversive and razor-sharp essays that range from the theoretical to the personal—from Deborah Levy and Susan Sontag to wrestling, kink, mysticism, death, and the color yellow. Drawing from their experiences with America’s byzantine healthcare system, and considering archetypes they call The Psychotic Woman, The Freak, and The Hag in Charge, Hedva offers a bracing indictment of the politics that exploit sickness—relying on and fueling ableism—to the detriment of us all.
With the insight of Anne Boyer’s The Undying and Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams, and the wit of Samantha Irby, Hedva’s debut collection upends our collective understanding of disability. In their radical reimagining of a world where care and pain are symbiotic, and our bodies are allowed to live free and well, Hedva implores us to remember that illness is neither an inconvenience or inevitability, but an enlivening and elemental part of being alive.
Praise for How to Tell When We Will Die
-
“In these sharp essays, novelist Hedva reflects on living with chronic illness . . .They push back against misogynistic associations between illness and a concept of femininity defined by weakness and fragility, instead asserting that “you don’t need to be fixed, my queens—it’s the world that needs the fixing.”
Hedva’s philosophical takes on disability are consistently illuminating, even if the subject matter makes for heavy reading . . . Probing and sophisticated, this is worth seeking out.” —Publishers Weekly -
“This is a book for the moment and for the ages. It’s questing, pissed, propulsive, funny, generous, pervy, and original—full of love and pain in all their entwined glory. Hedva lays waste to solidarity and care as buzzwords and returns them to us enlivened with all the blood and paradox they deserve. I will be thinking in the wake of this important collection for a long time, no doubt alongside so many grateful others.”
Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts -
“Invites the reader into an ecstatic circle dance in order to generate expansive approaches to talking about disability, illness, care, sex, and community.”
Lily Kwak, Interview magazine
