Matte Robinson – författare

This book explores the complex connections between the memories, emotions, and objects that hold special meaning for us across the years.

Many of us have particular things in our lives – photographs, paintings, old letters, books, furniture, jewellery, or clothing – that hold special meaning for us. Often, they correspond to pivotal memories and can be central to our sense of self and our life narratives, all the more so as we age. Things That Matter sheds important light on the intricate intertwining of mementos with stories – and vice versa – in most people’s lives.The book explores the significance of cherished objects within the life stories of nine participants in a qualitative study of the links between reminiscence and resilience in later life. The researchers who conducted the study represent a variety of fields, including gerontology, social work, ministry, nursing, literature, and education. The book details how life stories can be fraught with a wide range of insights and questions from the memories that get stirred up as people embark on the process of "life review" prompted by the challenges and changes of aging. Shedding light on the complex emotional, psychological, and spiritual findings of the study, Things That Matter ultimately reveals the intricacy of personal narrative and the incredible ways in which things and stories are interwoven in our lives over time.

Modernist poet H.D. had many visionary and paranormal experiences throughout her life. Although Sigmund Freud worried that they might be ‘symptoms,’ she rebelled, educating herself in the alternative world of the occult and spiritualism in order to transform the raw material into a mythical autobiography woven throughout her poetry, prose, and life-writing. The Astral H.D. narrates the fascinating story of how she used the occult to transform herself, and provides surprising revelations about her friendships and conflicts with famous figures—such as Sigmund Freud and the Battle of Britain War Hero Hugh Dowding—along the way.