weekend links: maternal vulnerability, contemporary surrealism, Isabel Allende

Mary Reid Kelley, This Is Offal (2016). Image courtesy Arratia Beer/Artsy.

When Helen Phillips realized how vulnerable she was being home alone with her newborn, she knew she had to write about it. Phillips’ new book The Need exploits this animalistic fear by causing the protagonist to come face to face with a home intruder—one who looks exactly like her. [Vulture]

When you think of surrealist art, do images of melting clocks come to mind? For most, Surrealism is a school of art that had its day and has passed, but there is actually a wide field of contemporary surrealists out there, thriving in the abnormal. Alina Cohen breaks down the works of a few of these artists, as well as some of their works. [Artsy]

Under the Works Progress Administration, many public works of art were created. One such piece is The Life Of George Washington at the George Washington High School in San Francisco. The mural is slated to be demolished, as the school board has deemed it to be distasteful and racist. However, students feel as though it depicts the founding of America as it truly was: distasteful and racist. Zachary Small goes over the controversy and what is expected to be done. [Hyperallergic]

Author Isabel Allende’s new book, A Long Petal In The Sea, explores the life of two refugees in the Spanish Civil War who flee to Chile only to have to flee Chile as well. The book is a mirror reflection of our own time, and an eerie example of how history repeats itself. Allende discusses history and her new book in this interview. [The Millions]

365 days, 365 children’s stories: Matt Zurbo has taken on a daunting task of writing a story a day, all for his young daughter to enjoy. [The New York Times]

When Jacqueline Alnes confronts her traumatic past, she does so knowing that it will leave her re-traumatized for a period of time. However, for her, confronting this trauma is the only way to effectively write about it, which may prove to be the catharsis she seeks. In this essay, Alnes goes over her own personal experience writing memoir, as well as seven other memoirists’ takes on writing the genre. [Longreads]

—Nicolas Perez