Charles Spencer’s book is as much about him as about the sister he claims to speak for. Beneath the score-settling, it’s a story of a brother still grieving.
Articles on Trauma memoirs
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Lena Dunham’s searingly funny, shockingly honest memoir reveals how Hollywood culture allows pretty much anything, except human frailty.
Nobody’s Girl is Virginia Giuffre’s inside account of the two years she spent as a ‘sex slave’ working for Jeffrey Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Sad Tiger and Trauma Plot are two stunning memoirs by rape survivors who immerse themselves in art and literature. They both transcend ‘art as therapy’.
Edwina Preston approaches Nova Weetman’s ‘generous and open’ grief memoir from a place of shared loss.
Rushdie feared until he dealt with the attempt on his life, he ‘wouldn’t be able to write anything else’. The book is a clearly cathartic story of courage and resilience, but it’s curiously one-eyed.
What is the responsibility of the publisher – and the many readers hungry for trauma memoirs – towards the authors who re-live their trauma to write their books? Some are calling for a new approach.
Top contributors
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Senior Lecturer in Humanities, University of Southern Queensland
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PhD Candidate, Creative Writing, The University of Melbourne
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PhD Candidate / Provisional Psychologist, Flinders University
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Professor of English, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, ACU, Australian Catholic University
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Associate Professor in Literary Studies, Flinders University
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Lecturer in English and Writing, James Cook University
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Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Languages, UNSW
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Adjunct Researcher, English and Writing, University of Tasmania
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Professor of Psychology, Flinders University