What is love in these theatres of cruelty?
Contemplating cruelty through the works of Maggie Nelson.
Art by Eleanor Curran
May 16, 2021
I remember sitting in the back of my uncle’s car, my younger brother and cousin sitting on either side of me. I was twelve and it was the first time that I had travelled overseas without my parents. We had just crossed the border into Northern Ireland and the radio was trying to acquaint itself with the UK’s FM waves, a haunting crackle broken by the odd word in an accent that was thicker than what I was used to hearing. I don’t know what it is about the radio, but my brain is like a sieve for that form — I could probably count on one hand the stories that have stuck with me. But for some reason, the tinny voice that came through the car’s speakers on that day is still scorched into my memory with a burning sense of clarity.