Alice Walter

2023

Artist Novel, 20 x 14 cm, 122 p., language: English, publisher: Book Works, London, ISBN: 978-1-912570-21-8.
Materials:

Collection: Collectie M HKA, Antwerp.

Literary synopsis

The Medium is a polyvocal, psychic coming-of-age story narrated by an unnamed protagonist and her younger self. Written entirely in dialogue, the narrative offers inner thoughts and overheard perspectives on the boundaries between psychosis and psychic development. The unnamed protagonist, seen by her family and doctors as mentally unwell, faces a dual journey; one path of illness and another of spiritual initiation. Ordinary moments—attending a birthday party, viewing a rental property, or starting a new job—become fraught with spiritual turbulence, as the protagonist's body and mind are overtaken by voices from the dead. Hovering between psychosis and spirituality, the young medium must learn how to channel these messages whilst navigating the difficulties of daily life. Both mundane and miraclous, 

 

The Medium bridges between memoir and myth, voicing the complexities of a life caught between spirit and self. To read The Medium is to be submerged in a stream of consciousness populated by uninvited voices from the underworld. Animated, urgent, and brutally propulsive, this cacophony of competing narratives begins to upset the boundary between the living and the dead. The Medium is an alchemical novel, shimmering with insight from the depths of a black lake.