Shattered Subjects: Trauma and Testimony in Women's Life-Writing [Paperback]

Suzette A. Henke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2000

In this important book, Suzette Henke finds evidence that women often use writing in order to heal the wounds of psychological trauma. She terms this method "scriptotherapy," the process of writing out and writing through traumatic experience in the mode of therapeutic re-enactment. Shattered Subjects explores the autobiographical writings of six twentieth-century women authors--Colette, Hilda Doolittle, Anais Nin, Janet Frame, Audre Lorde, and Sylvia Fraser. They provide startling evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder precipitated by rape, incest, childhood sexual abuse, grief, unwanted pregnancy, pregnancy-loss, or a severe illness that threatens the integrity of the body.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Henke, a professor of literary studies and a Joyce scholar (James Joyce and the Politics of Desire, Routledge, 1990), is a psychoanalytic critic with an interest in autobiographical testimony and scriptotherapy. In this study, she examines the case histories of six 20th-century women authors who underwent physical and psychological traumas and later wrote about their experiences as a therapeutic strategy. Among Henke's examples of "narrative recovery" are the life-writings of Colette (marital brutality), Hilda Doolittle (death and failed pregnancy), Anais Nin (father-daughter incest), Janet Frame (mental breakdown), Audre Lorde (social injustice and life-threatening illness), and Sylvia Fraser (childhood sexual abuse). With a third of the book devoted to notes and works consulted, its audience is clearly the informed reader with some knowledge of psychoanalysis, literary theory, and feminist criticism. Recommended for academic libraries.?Carol Ann McAllister, Coll. of William & Mary Lib., Williamsburg, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Recommended for academic libraries.” —Library Journal

“Henke's book introduces fascinating questions about trauma in women's lives, and the possible drive toward creative writing involving 'self healing.'” —Biography

“Henke's arguments are consistently insightful and convincing and the glimpses she allows us into the lives of these women are always fascinating.” —Canadian Literature

“...Henke has given us a richly detailed map...which readers of life-writing, feminist cultural production, and trauma studies alike will gratefully refer.” —Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (May 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312230982
• ISBN-13: 978-0312230982
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,862,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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