Professor Amanda Dennis Book Launch: "Her Here"
Amanda Dennis tells the incredible story of Elena, who, due to some sort of trauma and a loss of her sense of self, decides to quit graduate school and a long-term relationship only to take up a rather strange proposition from an estranged family friend living in Paris. It is then that she begins her mission of finding Ella, a young woman who went missing six years ago in Thailand.
What is most interesting, however, is that this isn't your usual "missing person" adventure as Elena decides to find Ella by rewriting her journals. As she dives deeper into the life of Ella, the line begins to blur between her own identity and the woman she is attempting to find and instead falls deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole towards self-annihilation.
With a quick introduction of Professor Dennis made by Professor Daniel Gunn, Dennis moved on to read an extract from the novel. All one could see was a bunch of muted microphones and attentive faces watching the screen closely as Dennis read an excerpt from the beginning of her book. After the reading, we moved into a discussion facilitated by Professor Gunn. As Dennis explained, in some ways, she saw herself in Ella as she too had spent a few years of her life in Thailand as a young woman. She even shared that when she was living there, she knew she wanted to write about Thailand, her, "immersion in the culture," her attempt to, "learn the language," and her journey living in a country with, "very different values," than the ones she used to have.
Image credit: Sarah Affonso
Another reason she wrote the novel was due to her heightened interest in French philosophy and theory after graduate school. She sought to make sense of the idea of, "alterity and otherness at the heart of the self." Therefore, while we are reading a novel, at the heart of it we do see Dennis's, "genuine desire to understand some of the theory [she] was being exposed to in human terms."
The novel most delicately and daringly deals with the idea and emotions related to trauma. Dennis expressed how there were most definitely, "numerous challenges," writing about a topic such as this. Ella, one of the central characters of the novel is adopted, and it took ample research for Dennis to properly understand what that can do, "to one's sense of identity." By reading accounts of those who have been adopted and engaging in conversation with adoptees, she was able to better comprehend the struggles. The unsettling feeling one has of not being who they actually think they are is part and parcel of growing and, "reaching adulthood," according to the author. When it comes to writing about trauma, Dennis reminds her audience to maintain a sense of, "buoyancy," with their words, keeping a, "magnetic tautness," to the writing.
With a keen interest in phenomenology, Dennis found herself reading a bunch of material while writing the novel and seemed to have subconsciously, or consciously, embedded the theories in her book. Phenomenology can be described as the way in which we perceive and understand phenomena and of the meaning phenomena have in our subjective experience. She stated that our, "perceptions of the sensory world do not trick us and take us away from an ideal form, but rather these are the things that help you understand anything at all." She even mentions that the moments early on in her book when Elena is trying to get into Ella's head through the journals bear the, "heaviest footprint of phenomenology." As Elena laments the restriction of having to understand Ella only through her words and realizes the, "limitation of language," the reader is truly exposed to concepts with a strong root in phenomenology.
Image credit: Unsplash/John Towner
When it came to Dennis's account of Paris in 'Her Here' she drew from some of her own memories and experiences from when she originally came to Paris to work on dissertation research. In her novel, she aimed to steer clear of the, "characteristically naive," way she encountered the experiences Americans typically have in Paris by making sure Elena had a very specific reason for visiting the city, which was to research the French filmmaker Chris Marker. She also aimed to highlight the parts of Paris that, "don't get sensationalized," and steer clear from the cliché of an American in Paris.
In conclusion, it was an evening of stimulating conversation and discussion. Listening to a skillful and passionate writer like Professor Amanda Dennis proved to be enjoyable and enlightening. Having attended the online book launch and hearing about the adventures of the author, I can't wait to get my hands on the text.
