![]() ![]() ![]() She characterizes this attitude as “students should not have severe mental illness.” After two hospitalizations she cuttingly terms a “breach of etiquette,” Yale asked her to leave. Raised by hard-striving Taiwanese immigrant parents, Wang was a chronic overachiever whose high school accomplishments “belied the hundreds of self-inflicted scars lurking beneath.” She inherited a love of writing from her mother, but also “a tendency for madness.” Diagnosed with bipolar disorder before leaving for Yale, she suffered manic episodes and slid down dark suicidal tunnels. While the 13 essays in Wang’s “The Collected Schizophrenias” range over a wide field, many touch on Wang’s awareness that her illness is not only a danger to her but a brand that can blind others to the full scope of her humanity. Ivy League status, she writes, “is shorthand for I have schizoaffective disorder, but I’m not worthless.” When giving a talk or at a doctor’s appointment, Esmé Weijun Wang often shoehorns “I went to Yale” into the conversation. ![]()
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