The Black Veil: A Memoir with Digressions

Rick Moody

Nov 2015 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

A raw, unflinching, convention-defying memoir of substance abuse, depression, and guilt

In his genre-bending memoir, Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm, delves into not only his own tormenting struggle with depression and alcoholism but also the pathos inherent in American society. Beginning with his childhood and widening his gaze to his ancestral past, Moody elegantly details the events that led him to admit himself to a psychiatric hospital.
 
Seeking explanations for his inner demons, Moody traces his lineage back to Joseph “Handkerchief” Moody. In early-eighteenth-century Maine, Joseph accidentally killed his childhood friend and wore a handkerchief over his face for the rest of his life as a self-imposed punishment. His story stirs within Moody a drive to understand his own failings through a study of American violence from colonial times to the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Remarkably broad in scope and full of Moody’s witticisms and brilliantly crafted prose, The Black Veil is an extraordinary exploration of both personal and cultural shame that transcends the expectations of a memoir.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rick Moody including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

About the author

Rick Moody (b. 1961) is an award-winning novelist and short story writer. Born in New York City, he graduated from Brown University and earned a master of fine arts in creative writing from Columbia University. His first novel, Garden State, won the Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award, and his memoir of his struggles with alcoholism and depression, The Black Veil, was awarded the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of Memoir. His 1994 bestseller, The Ice Storm, was adapted into a film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Moody’s writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s Magazine, Details, and the New York Times. His work has also been selected for the Best American Stories, Best American Essays, and Pushcart Prize anthologies. His story “The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven” won the Paris Review’s Aga Khan Prize. Moody currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches creative writing at New York University.