Mad muse : the mental illness memoir in a writer's life and work / by Jeffrey Berman.

  • Berman, Jeffrey, 1945-
Date:
2019
  • Books

About this work

Description

"Mental illness can often be the driving force behind creativity. This relationship is never more apparent than in the memoirs of writers who have lived, worked and created with a mental illness. Mad Muse examines and unpicks this fascinating relationship, demonstrating that mental illness is often intergenerational while the story of mental illness is intertextual. The study begins with William Styron's iconic memoir Darkness Visible, moving through a succession of mental illness memoirs from some of the most important authors in the genre, including Kate Millett, Kay Redfield Jamison, Linda Sexton, Lauren Slater, Andrew Solomon and Elyn Saks. From memoirs that blur the boundaries between historical truth and narrative truth to a first-person account of schizophrenia, Berman discusses the challenges of reading books which inspire hope and courage in many readers but may also sometimes have unintended consequences. In so doing, it illuminates the complex, co-existing relationship between the arts and mental health and represents an invaluable contribution to the study of health humanities." --From publisher's description.

Publication/Creation

Bingley : Emerald Publishing, 2019.

Physical description

x, 374 pages ; 22 cm

Edition

First edition.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-360) and index.

Contents

Introduction : out of the closet to bear witness -- "The landscape of depression" : William Styron and Darkness Visible -- "My proclaimed sanity and my conjectured madness" : Kate Millett and The Loony-Bin Trip -- "A strange and driving force, a destroyer, a fire in the blood" : Kay Redfield Jamison and An Unquiet Mind -- "For better or worse you inherit me" : Linda Gray Sexton and Searching for Mercy Street and Half in Love -- "Truth is bendable" : Lauren Slater and Lying -- "I cannot separate her homophobia from my own" : Andrew Solomon and The Noonday Demon -- "Someone acts through my brain" : Elyn R. Saks and The Center Cannot Hold -- Conclusion : the challenges of reading mad memoirs.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    CU /BER
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 1789738105
  • 9781789738100