THE ROOT IS BITTER, THE ROOT IS SWEET
In the Shadow of Madness
A Memoir by Dolores Brandon
Author’s Forward to the 2nd Edition
When a book goes out of print, for the author it is as if a light is turned off in the chamber of the heart that gave it life. Yes, a vibrant used book market today keeps the distribution circuitry going, but it’s not quite the same wattage. Opportunities to reach and grow one’s audience are more random, often obscure and less supported. So, sixteen years after IN THE SHADOW OF MADNESS debuted under the imprimatur of Sky Blue Press, I welcomed the invitation ORI Academic Press extended to give this memoir a second edition. And, after some discussion, I agreed to have it republished with my original working title – THE ROOT IS BITTER, THE ROOT IS SWEET while retaining the title given the First Edition as subtitle. Although I grew to accept it, I was never entirely comfortable with In the Shadow of Madness as title: I felt it cast a pejorative pall on mental illness that was not part of my intention. My impulse for writing the book was born out of a need to unravel a legacy, to penetrate a personal genetic inheritance. Like Oliver Sacks, one of our truly great neurologist story tellers, I believe “To be ourselves we must have ourselves – possess, if need be re-possess, our life-stories. We must “recollect” ourselves, recollect the inner drama, the narrative, of ourselves.”
Being published is typically a circuitous affair. I have been fortunate. Thanks to a brief, but nourishing personal association with diarist, Anais Nin, I met publisher, Paul Herron, just as he was laying in the foundation for Sky Blue Press. With his dedication to keeping the flame of Nin alive, Herron was open to considering the writings of Nin “offspring” for publication; in that context, my memoir caught his attention. I will be forever grateful to Sky Blue Press for the first edition and Herron’s good wishes for this second one.
With its network of professionals and authors working to effect deeper, more compassionate avenues of public understanding for mental illness and the families who struggle to transcend its damages, ORI Academic Press feels like a good and right second home. I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Inna Rozentsvit her faith in the book and her choosing to republish it. And, I am once again thrilled to have my artist sister, Marilyn Brandon, create a new image for the cover of the new edition. We lived this experience together. She understands the book at its most personal level. The collage image she created is her visual response to the book’s call.
Although it is ever more clear (to me, at least) that mental illness is at the very core of many of our contemporary world’s most serious social problems, the plight of families as they struggle to cope with parents, siblings, wives and husbands so afflicted remains largely unvoiced. Every time I see a headline sensationalizing the tragic outcome of some disturbed person’s anti-social behavior, I hear the muffled screams of a family standing in the shadows – the screams crying out for help, comfort and understanding; the screams that, if they were truly heard, could bring healing, safety and a sense of value to the lives of all so impacted.
The quality of response I received from readers to the first edition of this memoir tells me families want to be heard, that there’s an audience deeply interested and ready to listen particularly when the stories are unsugared narratives of courage and compassion; stories frankly told by and about people who do not cave but call upon reserves of creativity and resilience to live full and loving lives while doing all they can to protect and assist their mentally ill kin. THE ROOT IS BITTER, THE ROOT IS SWEET In the Shadow of Madness is for them. May sweetness prevail.
Dolores Brandon, New York 2015
TRACES @www.doloresbrandon.com