A visceral look at the bizarre entanglement of destructive and creative forces,andLive Through Thisandis a collectionandof original stories, essays, artwork, and photography. It explores the use of art to survive abuse, incest,andmadness and depression, and the often deep-seated impulse toward self-destruction including cutting, eatinganddisorders, and addiction. Here, some of our most compelling cartoonists, novelists, poets, dancers,andplaywrights, and burlesque performers traverse the pains and passions that can both motivate and destroyandwomen artists, and mark a path for survival. Taken together, these artful reflections offer an honest andandhopeful journey through a woman's silent rage, through the power inherent in struggles with destruction, andandthe ensuing possibilities of transforming that burning force into the external release of art.With contributions by Nan Goldin, bell hooks, Patricia Smith, Cristy C. Road, Carol Queen, Annie Sprinkle,andElizabeth Stephens, Carolyn Gage, Eileen Myles, Fly, Diane DiMassa, Bonfire Madigan Shive, Inga Muscio,andKate Bornstein, Toni Blackman, Nicole Blackman, Silas Howard, Daphne Gottleib, and Stephanie Howell.