The Limits of Autobiography - by Leigh Gilmore (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In The Limits of Autobiography, Leigh Gilmore analyzes texts that depict trauma by combining elements of autobiography, fiction, biography, history, and theory in ways that challenge the constraints of autobiography. Astute and compelling readings of works by Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Dorothy Allison, Mikal Gilmore, Jamaica Kincaid, and Jeanette Winterson explore how each poses the questions "How have I lived?" and "How will I live?" in relation to the social and psychic forms within which trauma emerges.

First published in 2001, this new edition of one of the foundational texts in trauma studies includes a new preface by the author that assesses the gravitational pull between life writing and trauma in the twenty-first century, a tension that continues to produce innovative and artful means of confronting kinship, violence, and self-representation.

Review Quotes

Leigh Gilmore's The Limits of Autobiography is a fine addition to the body of work in trauma studies, and is highly recommended for all working in the mental health disciplines. The book is a rich cornucopia of literary and psychological analyses, theoretical sophistication, and interdisciplinary connectedness; these treasures can only be suggested here.

Gilmore offers astute and compelling commentaries in relation to the social and psychic forms within which selected autobiographers told their personal stories in literate and unconventional ways. Informative, thought-provoking chapters comprise this unique and highly recommended contribution to the literary study of the autobiography.

Through theoretically nuanced, lucid, and insightful readings, Gilmore demonstrates the ability of narrative to transform trauma, to speak to a certain truth about the relationship between trauma and identity that goes beyond the exigencies of accuracy and objectivity that pertain to a juridical contact. Any reader interested in the myriad interpenetrations of violence, the law, identity, family, and life writing will find much to admire in this impressive study.

About the Author

Leigh Gilmore is the author of several books, including The #MeToo Effect, Tainted Witness, and (with Elizabeth Marshall) Witnessing Girlhood. Her public feminist scholarship appears in The Conversation, Public Books, and WBUR's Cognoscenti.