Special Issue :: Skin

Skin is the special focus of The Chattahoochee Review Fall/Winter 2014 double issue. Editor Anna Schachner writes that the call for submissions encouraged “literal and figurative explorations of the theme,” and that “the editorial staff couldn’t have predicted the original and varied responses” they would receive.

As with themed calls, there is both the promise and the dread that metaphor will take over, as the editors discovered, “There was race and disease and facade and sexuality and transformation and embodiment and disguise, among others. Who can fight metaphor? So we joined it, ultimately identifying three metaphors that would help us organize, even reinforce, the great work in the issue: Surface, Selves, and Symbiosis.”

Additionally, in her own exploration of the topic, Schachner focused on the idea of where skin and language meet: tattoo. Taking this connection further to the literal tattoo, Schachner interviews Eva Talmadge, co-author of The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide. The interview can also be found on The Hooch, TCR’s news and events page.