Nina MacLaughlin roams darkness and light, life and death, and other dichotomies in Winter Solstice, a four-part essay (a version of which was orginally published in the Paris Review Daily) that squires readers into the heart of the cold season. In MacLaughlin's follow-up to Summer Solstice, she considers winter through four blurred facets: light, shadow, passion, and flame. She writes, "It is the animal in us that knows the dark. This season stirs that animal in us, and stirs the memories... of the ancient dark, of a time before gods, before form and words and light." Alongside the more sensual aspects of winter, the depths of darkness are plumbed--from human grief to the underworld of classic Greek mythology.
But light is also examined: the playful stringing of holiday bulbs that opens the first essay as well as more sacred, ancient examples, directly tied to celestial objects. In addition to spanning time, Winter Solstice also takes readers on a dreamy journey with stops ranging from the icy banks of a Northeastern river to a deep tomb in Ireland from 3200 BC: "If you are someone who feels ghosts... you might feel them here." MacLaughlin (Wake, Siren; Hammer Head) deftly expands personal anecdotes to collective truths and to profound insights, yet she finds a way to ground readers when abstraction threatens.
In rhythmic and occasionally repetitive prose, MacLaughlin weaves wintertime memories, history, philosophy, mundanity, and mythology, creating a mesmerizing evocation of the quiet, dark season. --Nina Semczuk, writer, editor, and illustrator