Autobiography of a Marguerite

We are made up of stories, but which ones belong to us? What are the boundaries between our bodies and the outside world? Autobiography of a Marguerite is a profound, book-length poetic work about chronic illness, family dysfunction, and identity, and how they can shape one another.

The narrator struggles with the effects of her autoimmune illness, and struggles to separate herself from her troubled mother. A doctor tells the narrator that there is ‘no cause and no cure’ to her ailment, but the book attempts to explore how familial environments might contribute to the development of ill health. Butcher-McGunnigle’s experimentation with form – overlapping voices, footnotes, fragments, found text and photographs – illustrate the struggle for autonomy and a sense of self, the repressed grief of chronic illness and its disruptive effect on the sufferer’s sense of time’s passage. The poems make visible the often-hidden experience of disability, and the reader becomes both a witness and an actor, piecing together a narrative that challenges what an autobiography can be.

‘One of the most innovative New Zealand books published in recent years.’ – Siobhan Harvey, Booknotes ‘Books of the Year 2014’

‘Astonishing…This poetry is unlike anything I have seen.’ – Paula Green

‘A grand achievement. The writing goes to the aching heart of disconnection and of longing for repair…Butcher-McGunnigle has created a crooked beauty out of shards.’ – Sue Wootton, Takahe

About the Author

Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle is a writer and counsellor from Auckland, currently living in Melbourne. She is the author of Autobiography of a Marguerite, Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life and Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama. With David Jalal Motamed, she co-runs the reading series Bad Flâneur.