Uncovering the Hidden Truths of Identity: A Riveting Journey Through Unbelonging
As writers, we’re taught that scent is the sense most powerfully linked to memory and Jagoe masterfully employs it in her essay “Brief Autobiography In Odors.” Home has a smell, she says, writing about her “childhood household’s olfactory DNA.” She describes an amalgam of pencils and modeling glue, her mother’s cooking and her mother’s Chanel No. 5, disinfectant, shoe polish, and more. She pushes the exploration further when she goes on to write about “the smell of countries:” the orange cleaning product used in England’s Manchester Airport, the scents of fish, mimosa, and jasmine in Spain, and “the smell of Wisconsin: apples in a barn.”
Post Comment