Cirrus@Austlit

'A collection of new work by award-winning poet Ann Shenfield. Delving into family trauma in a post-Holocaust context and informed by psychoanalysis, these poems explore identity and the frailty of the human and physical world.A Treatment presents a poetic reflection of family trauma in a post-holocaust context, which is grounded in these times. The poems articulate the past as it intersects with the present, as well as the way the present writes over what has been before, both in human and ecological terms. The writing is informed by psychoanalysis, and the aim of the work is to elucidate a version of truth or to touch on something of the ephemeral. A Treatment is about questions of identity and speaks to the frailty of both the human and physical world in all their incomprehensibility.' (Publication summary)

'In this first collection, Ann Shenfield’s often tentatively articulated thoughts and anecdotes are realized as poems almost in spite of themselves. The little narratives build—and they are narratives rather than lyrical effusions—and they aggregate in effect, expanding to the reader’s attention as though heliotropes responding to the light!' – Kris Hemensley (Publication summary)