Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Mitchell's Mental Traveler combines a scholar's intellect with a father's intimate perspective on the life, work, and suicide of his son, Gabriel Mitchell. A kaleidoscopic and erudite memoir of madness and sanity, this is also, at its core, a stunning account of what endures in the wake of catastrophic tragedies: love, art, and vast stores of human hope."--Rachel DeWoskin, author of Banshee and Someday We Will Fly "A father's account, a humane case study of a person with schizophrenia, and above all a beautiful elegy for a bright and creative and troubled life lost, Mental Traveler is renowned scholar W.J.T. Mitchell's lucid memoir of his son Gabe's illness from early-onset in college to crisis, recovery, treatment, and finding a way in the world before his untimely death. Through a deep and clear-eyed process of attention and reminiscence, this book does a lot to dispel the stereotyping and scapegoating of people and families suffering from and with schizophrenia."--Greg Bottoms, author of Angelhead: My Brother's Descent into Madness
Table of ContentsPreface
1 “I Need to Become Homeless”
2 A
MAD Tour
3 The Therapeutic Landscape
4 “There’s Something in My Head”
5 From Desolation to Da Jewels
6 Flying and Falling
7 Diagnoses and Detours
8 “He Killed the Future”
9 He Was Too Strong for His Own Good
10 Gabe’s Back Pages
11 Philmworx
12 The Immoral Career of the Caregiver
13 On the Case of Gabriel Mitchell
Postscript Poems by Janice Misurell-Mitchell
Gabriel’s Email to the Family, on Grammy’s Death
Acknowledgments
Further Reading and Viewing
