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

Henke, Suzette A.

ISBN 10: 0312230982 / ISBN 13: 9780312230982

Published by St. Martin's Press, New York, 2000

About this Item

First printing of the stated first paperback edition. 8vo. Trade paperback format. 216 pages. Notes. List of Works Cited and Consulted. Index. Warmly inscribed in black ink to the former owners on the dedication page by the author, who signed herself "Suzette." A splendid copy in very good condition.

Seller Inventory # 002200

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Shattered Subjects: Trauma and Testimony in Women's Life-Writing
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312230982
• ISBN 13: 9780312230982
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Judith Herman has noted that 'the most common post-traumatic disorders are those not of men in war but of women in civilian life.' How have women survived, both individually and collectively, in the face of unimaginable trauma? In this important new book, Suzette A. Henke finds evidence that women often use writing in order to heal the wounds of psychological trauma. The literary testimonies of Colette, Hilda Doolittle, AnaIs Nin, Janet Frame, Audre Lorde, and Sylvia Fraser provide startling evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder precipitated by rape, incest, childhood sexual abuse, grief, unwanted pregnancy, pregnancy-loss, or severe illness. Their writings are used as a means for survival and healing. Henke analyzes traumatic narrative as the focal point of a large body of autobiographical practice representing the genre of narrative recovery. Shattered Subjects suggests that the powerful medium of written autobiographical testimony may allow the resolution or reconfiguration of the most emotionally distressing experiences.

About the Author

SUZETTE A. HENKE is Thruston B. Morton Professor of Literary Studies at the University of Louisville. She is the author of James Joyce and the Politics of Desire and Joyce's Moraculous Sindbook: A Study of 'Ulysses' and the co-editor of Women in Joyce.