Elin Cullhed in Extensive Finnish Interview

Finnish Helsingin Sanomat, the largest daily newspaper in the north, just published an extensive interview with Elin Cullhed on her novel Euphoria.

Here is an excerpt from the interview where Cullhed discusses how Euphoria came about and how Sylvia Plath relates to her own experiences:

“It was a cold and dark winter. I was in the grip of such exhaustion that I had no energy for anything. We had a small child and I had been a mother for years. […] For me, becoming a mother is a kind of death. It is where I die. You will never be alone in your own universe in the same way again. […] I used that image of a dying mother in the novel, and it’s something that Sylvia Plath dealt with a lot in her poems, the ambivalence of being a mother. […] All the stories available about motherhood and equality were false. I couldn’t find any truthful accounts. That’s why I wanted to write about this, because I knew that Sylvia also wrote about motherhood, frustration, and despair. […] To me, there is meaning in her texts. Her voice is unmistakable as she describes the female experience, the ambivalence of the body, birth, and death. […] You can’t read her poems without something twisting within you.”

Euphoria will be published in Finland tomorrow, September 9th, by Otava/Atena.