Issue Details: First known date: 2012... 2012 The Pornography of Trauma: Faking Identity in 'Misery Memoirs'
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Examining hoax memoirs by James Frey (2003), Dave Pelzer (1995), and Kathy O'Beirne (2006), this paper illustrates how anxieties about the inability of representation to provide a direct access to truth are mitigated via an emotional connection with the text. While the degree of faking varies, each scandal reveals concerns about authenticity and the need to find-or feel-something that can be accepted as unquestionably 'true'. The mimicking performed by a fake unsettles the boundaries between fact and fiction to reveal a public investment in an undisturbed effect of the real, a willingness to accept a blurring of'truth' in the interests of the sensational experience of literature.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon LINQ Life Writing - Performing Lives no. 39 December 2012 6315583 2012 periodical issue 2012 pg. 90-103
Last amended 27 Oct 2016 16:45:35
90-103 The Pornography of Trauma: Faking Identity in 'Misery Memoirs'small AustLit logo LINQ
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