I Too Once Thought . . .: Problematizing Identity and Ordering the So-Called Chaos in Alanis Morissette's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

Dewing, Brett Alan

ISBN 13: 9798385254019

Published by Resource Publications (CA), 2026

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9798385254019

Bibliographic Details

• Title: I Too Once Thought . . .: Problematizing Identity and Ordering the So-Called Chaos in Alanis Morissette's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
• Publisher: Resource Publications (CA)
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798385254019
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

We find ourselves at a transitional time in culture, encouraged from the youngest age to apply defining labels to ourselves. Sometimes it seems that everybody is fighting for the smallest pigeonhole. An alternative paradigm, celebrating complexity and multiplicity in personal identity, may be found in a surprising source: Alanis Morissette's 1998 album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. In this book, critic Brett Alan Dewing makes a case for the album as a masterpiece that challenges popular thinking on the nature of our very selves. Through a close reading of the entire album, its deceptively chaotic structure is shown to be a carefully planned form that orders surprisingly rich thoughts on who and how we are, always brimming with lessons both therapeutic (through Morissette's engagement with the Internal Family Systems model) and practically theological. Dewing interweaves his analysis with examples of his own battle to not let the world steal his complexity.

About the Author

Brett Alan Dewing is a critic, poet, playwright, and teacher living in Pennsylvania. Along with I Too Once Thought . . ., he is the author of multiple self-published poetry collections, plays, and criticism. His reviews may be found at www.b-a-dreviews.com.