An Elastic State of Mind:
D.L.D.’s Autobiography in Poems (2011) by Ren Powell.
Translations, Eirik Lodén. Wigestrand Press.
The imaginative autobiography in poems formed the basis of Ren Powell’s Ph.D. thesis at Lancaster University. Powell’s meticulous research was drawn from published and unpublished documents by historians and psychologists, as well as D.L.D.’s own letters, memorials, and books. The poetry collection utilizes free verse, found poems, and traditional verse forms such as the villanelle, sonnet, sestina, and the English madsong. It also explores the expression of bipolar disorder through poetry.
“”With this, her fifth poetic volume, Powell has reached new maturity and new depth and has produced an innovative and sensitive tribute to an extraordinary woman.”
Alice-Catherine Carls, the University of Tennessee at Martin
September 2013 issue of World Literature Today