Shutter of Snow (Dalkey Archive Essentials)

A tragic, visceral portrayal of motherhood and mental illness.

In a prose form as startling as its content, The Shutter of Snow portrays the postpartum fever dream of Marthe Gail, who after giving birth to her son, is committed to an insane asylum. Believing herself to be God, she maneuvers through an institutional world that is both sad and terrifying, echoing the worlds of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Bell Jar.

Based upon the author's own experience after the birth of her son in 1924, The Shutter of Snow retains all the energy it had when first published in 1930.