Virgin, queen, widow, sow

BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 - the grand prize of the Slovenian Book Fair!Virgin, Queen, Widow, Bitch transcends traditional genre labels. It is not just a memoir, but also an anthropological analysis of the role of women as wives, widows, and conundrums throughout history. It is about mourning, but also about empowerment.

Erica Johnson Debeljak interweaves her personal experience with the stirring stories of historical widows.She fearlessly confronts the taboos of death and widowhood in contemporary society: the medicalization and bureaucratization of mourning, the struggle for material survival, which despite receiving less attention than emotional issues, remains the central experience of widowhood, and last but not least, the dangerous sexuality of widows. The result is a dynamic work that explores the deepest theoretical and experiential questions of life and death, and women in between.

"Virgin, Queen, Widow, Bitch is a fascinating and insightful memoir, both a personal account of tragedy and an anthropological analysis of the role of the widow in various religions, cultures, myths, and literature. It offers us an instructive yet chilling insight into how little the role of the widow has changed in the last thousand years." - Slavenka Drakulić

"I haven't read such a wise, exquisitely written, and poignant memoir as Virgin, Queen, Widow, Bitch in a long time. Out of the twilight of losing a loved one, a beautiful book has emerged: a bold memoir that is also a relentless analysis of widowhood. The writing is so powerful that it has sucked the air out of my chest more than once." - Vesna Goldsworthy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Erica Johnson Debeljak was born in 1961 in San Francisco. She studied in New York, where she received a BA in French from Columbia University and an MA in Economics from New York University. In 1993, she married poet Aleš Debeljak (1961–2016) and moved to Slovenia, where she developed a rich career as a writer, publicist, and translator. She published her first book of essays, Tujka v hiši domačinov, in 1999. This was followed by the books: Srečko Kosovel: Poet and Me (2004), a collection of short stories So You Are Mine (2007), the memoirs Forbidden Bread (2009) and Prepovedani kruh (2010), and the novels Antifa Cona (2012) and Tovarna koles (2015). She also co-edited and contributed the lead essay for an unusual and moving homage to her late husband: I'm Just Passing By – Postcards by Aleš Debeljak (2018).

MEDIA ABOUT THE BOOK:

"First of all, let me say, and this is not an exaggeration, that I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't written it (the book, ed.). In the beginning, writing was primarily therapy." - Erica Johnson Debeljak in an interview for the Saturday supplement Delo

"Virgin, Queen, Widow, Whore is a free translation of the English Virgin Wife Widow Whore, which contains alliteration and I find it powerful also because the last word in it is a monosyllable. In Slovenian, the literal translation did not work. At the editorial meeting at Mladinski knjiga, it was quite fun: we thought about whores, whores, whores, bitches... Then I chose queen instead of wife and then came bitch." - Erica Johnson Debeljak in an interview for the Saturday supplement of Delo

"In her fiction-essay book Virgin, Queen, Widow, Whore, Erica Johnson Debeljak writes about facing the sudden death of her husband, about the pain, feelings of helplessness, confusion, anger and other emotions that grief threw her into... and last but not least, about how she begins to take control of her life again, to put it together anew." - www.metropolitan.si

"At the end of January, five years have passed since the death of poet, essayist and professor Aleš Debeljak. His wife, also a writer, Erica Johnson Debeljak, thus became a widow. She now shares her experiences and insights with readers in the book Virgin, Queen, Widow, Whore, published by Mladinski knjiga." - Meta Česnik, TV Slovenija

"I didn't censor myself. And I think this is my strongest book yet." - Erica Johnson Debeljak for Zarja & Jana

"Erica Johnson Debeljak's book exposes another taboo: the life and hardships of widows, both today and historically." - Meta Černoga, Nedeljski dnevnik

"Directly, on the verge of (over)audacity, Erica Johnson Debeljak spoke to us about her dark sides, pain, disappointment, loss, the emptiness of despair, but also her longing for life." - Ivan Puc, Reporter

"One would think that the worst moment for a widow is when she loses her husband, but that's when the real ordeal begins. This is also evidenced by the fates of famous widows from history, which (op. Erica Johnson Debeljak) skillfully weaves into her writing. Excellent reading, I recommend it." - Miha Naglič, Gorenjski glas

"Aleš is a huge part of who she is today. So how could she not feel his presence? Not that I would think that she has converted to some kind of new age spirituality, but in fact she thinks about it completely differently now than before." - Marko Crnković, V soboto – Večer supplement

"Her latest work is a combination of a personal story after the tragic death of her husband and an anthropological study of widowhood." - Ana Rozman, Radio Slovenia, 3rd program "In her opinion, writing was therapeutic also because she finds silence a great burden: "If you talk about your pain, you free it. It is important to have someone to listen to you when you are going through trauma." Talking about pain, she added, also gives you strength." - STA

"Erica Johnson Debeljak wanted to process her grief through writing, to live in new circumstances when she became a widow with three children and no permanent job." - Breda Pahor, Primorski dnevnik

"The title has upset many people. Of course, I am not equating the female figures of "widow" and "bitch". It is a list of archetypal roles that women occupy in patriarchal societies." - Erica Johnson Debeljak in an interview for Dnevnik

"I received many letters of support, mainly from women, but also from men. Especially from widows, divorcees and other women who also felt marginalized and responded very emotionally." - Erica Johnson Debeljak in an interview for www.rtvslo.si

"... Erica Johnson Debeljak's book with a bold title boldly pushes boundaries and breaks taboos, not only former, but also contemporary ones." - Organizers of the Slovenian Book Fair

"The title [of the book] has upset many people. Of course, I do not equate the female figures of 'widow' and 'bitch'. It is a list of archetypal roles that women occupy in patriarchal societies." - The author about the book in an interview with Dnevnik

"In her hybrid work Virgin, Queen, Widow, Whore, Erica Johnson Debeljak has described to Slovenians with unusual honesty the pain of losing her husband Aleš Debeljak, a poet, essayist, translator, editor and critic [...]. She has enriched the experience of overcoming pain by dissecting the role of widows in history." - Nedelo

"The book Virgin, Queen, Widow, Pig is certainly not only a unique literary hybrid of autobiographical memoirs and insightful anthropological analysis of widowhood, but also a deep psychological self-analysis with valuable insights for every reader. I can say this from my own experience, because it was only after reading this book that I truly understood some of my mother's reactions seventeen years ago, when my father died." - Our Times