Reading Carmen Maria Machado's 'The husband stitch'

Join us for discussion of Carmen Maria Machado's 'The husband stitch'

In Issue #2, our first reading roundtable took our paid subscribers on a literary exploration of ‘The company of wolves’—one of the stories in Angela Carter’s wolf trilogy, which were eventually published together in her feminist fairy-tale collection The bloody chamber. (On a side note, if you missed this deep-dive into Carter’s fairy tale retellings—with a specific focus on ‘Little red riding hood’ [ATU 333] and the folkloric traditions connected to wolves—you can still join the conversation in the Issue #2 archives: Reading Angela Carter's ‘The company of wolves'.)

One of the questions posed in last issue’s discussion pointed to Carmen Maria Machado’s 2017 short story, ‘The husband stitch’ and the ‘strategy of tucking a range of folkloric narratives’ around a familiar tale. To continue our conversation around retellings and re-imaginings, we will be taking a closer look at the work of Carmen Maria Machado and her marvelous tale of a girl with a green ribbon tied around her delicate neck. Shall we begin?

Illustration by Dirk Zimmer, from In a dark dark room and other scary stories (1984).

A quick recap on reading roundtables at The Orange & Bee

The reading roundtables are only available to paid subscribers. If you haven’t moved to that level yet, we hope you will consider joining us. Each reading roundtable includes an introduction to a specific text; an exploration of connected social, cultural, and/or scientific material; and some questions to ponder.

There are no set rules or guidelines to follow. Whatever your responses (thoughts! feelings! wonderings!), we invite you to offer them courageously and boldly. The only thing we ask is that you take an approach to the text that’s largely curious and appreciative, focused on engaging deeply and honestly with the text, and with each other.

In this collaborative space, we are hoping to spark creativity through close reading. Other things we hope to see emerge include insights into the craft of writing, the connection between folkloric traditions and contemporary writing, and a deeper understanding of the focus story through active engagement.