Instructor gains national coverage for her writing

Lidia Yuknavitch, Instructor of English and author of “Dora: A Head Case”, in her office on the MHCC campus.

Being a good writer can open the door to many fields. One MHCC instructor who teaches writing is also using her talent in the art of story telling.

MHCC English instructor and published writer Lidia Yuknavitch has proven she knows her material. Her latest work, “Dora: A Head Case,” has been well received since its release Aug. 7.

There is an introduction in the book by Chuck Palahniuk, author of “Fight Club” and several other novels.

It is “a contemporary coming-of-age story based on Freud’s famous case study—retold and revamped through Dora’s point of view, with shotgun blasts of dark humor and sexual play,” says the description on Amazon.

“Well, in part it’s a reclamation story of Freud’s original patient Dora, yes,” Yuknavitch said, “but it’s not necessary to know that to read the book.

“Dora is a compilation character. She’s a little piece in all of us. Teen rebel. Aberrant young adult. Or just our id,” said Yuknavitch.  “And the form of the book is farce, so that let me construct absurd and symbolic actions that are funny on the surface and serious underneath. It’s my love letter to misfits, nerds, introverts and art outcasts.”

Yuknavitch had her first book, a collection of short stories titled “Her Other Mouths,” published in 1987. “Liberty’s Excess” and “Reel to Reel” were both released in the early 2000s and are also collections of short stories.

Last year, she diverted from her fiction writing and took on the task of writing “Chronology of Water: A Memoir.” The book is her life story, from the bad to the good. It has gotten good reviews from most critics, is a finalist for the 2012 Oregon Book Award, where she won the “reader’s choice award” category and won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award.

“It was both a radical crucible — writing that book nearly killed me — and a healing; experiences and emotions moving through me instead of me drowning in them,” Yuknavitch said about writing “Chronology.”  “But I didn’t do it for just me.  I wrote if for an imagined ‘us’ — a tribe of people I know are out there who feel like they are messing up or want to give up or are just lonely in their experiences.  Our stories count, too,” she said.

An admitted introvert, Yuknavitch said she has found the attention she’s received from her works somewhat overwhelming, but she is adjusting.
She has done interviews with The Rumpus, Bookslut, National Public Radio (NPR) and The Oregonian. Cheryl Strayed, another writer from Portland, also recommended “Dora” in People Magazine.

Yuknavitch has several upcoming dates for readings: Wordstock at the Oregon Conventional Center on Oct. 13; What Where Series at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics on Oct. 23; Olympia Timberline Library on Dec. 6; and Richard Hugo House on Dec. 13.

Besides her published works, Yuknavitch teaches several classes on introduction to college writing and a creative writing class. She is also an adviser for Perceptions and women’s studies, according to the MHCC website.
Yuknavitch has been teaching for 25 years.

Asked if enrollment has increased recently, Yuknavitch said, “Not really. The classes I teach have been full for the most part since I started here (at MHCC) 12 years ago — but more writers show up at my door, which is cool. And people who are having a hard time know how to find me. I had a hard time, too, so I get it.”

“Every year I wonder how I can keep balancing wife/mother/teacher/practicing writer,” Yuknavitch said. “But teachers helped me once in my life when I was in community college — they helped me claw my way back from the gutter — so I’m trying to give back, help others see their own value and paths.”

“Writing gave me a life,” said Yuknavitch. “It saved me when I wanted to check out, it gave me the freedom to express rather than self destruct —and even now, it keeps me tethered to the world and to people. Otherwise, I’d float away.”

As for her parting words, she said, “Keep writing. Never surrender.”

Advocate Staff