Camelia Elias

The Childless Witch Camelia Elias

'Don't have any children, ' the author's mother said, in response to the question: 'what's your greatest wisdom?' posed to her by her own daughter when she was 10. Forty years down the road this book springs out of investigating just what this wisdom is all about. The book thus offers reflections on the state of being childless. The author's own experiences of childlessness blend in with her analysis of childless artists and the part of their work that mirrors particularly the significance of being childless. In this book, either via personal encounters with the author or across the arts, we meet drummer Zohar Fresco, butoh dancer Carlotta Ikeda, opera singer Maria Callas as Medea through Pier Paolo Passolini's lens, and filmmaker Maya Deren. At the heart of the book is a simple investigation: Who poses true questions? The figure of the witch holds an interesting answer.