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Book Cover
E-book
Author Berman, Jeffrey, author

Title Mad muse : the mental illness memoir in a writer's life and work / by Jeffrey Berman
Edition First edition
Published Bingley : Emerald Publishing, 2019

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Description 1 online resource (x, 374 pages.)
Summary 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
Bibliography Includes bibliography (pages 339-360) and index
Notes Description based on print version record
Subject Autobiography -- Authorship
Authors -- Mental health
Literature and mental illness.
Mentally ill women.
Psychiatry in Literature
Mentally Ill Persons
mentally ill.
Literature & literary studies.
Literary Criticism -- General.
Authors -- Mental health
Autobiography -- Authorship
Literature and mental illness
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781789738094
1789738091
9781789738070
1789738075