Special Section Special Section: Shakespeare Biography Comparative Biography Theory Study Text Study Autobiography Studies Subject Studies History of Life Writing Film Biography Book Reviews Workshop Academic Info More
The Trauma Treatment in Western Autobiography

Abstract: By narrating the traumatic experience, a narrator seems to have re-experienced the pain, which seems doubled the suffering; however, the healing is achieved on the completion of the writing. This is like applying a lancet to let the pus out. It is how the trauma treatment operates. Literary narration is one of the effective ways to transform a traumatic event. In so doing, autobiographers describe their traumatic experiences, expose them completely to people’s observation, recall sources of the pains, and mourn the perished memories. It is only after this that it is possible to restore and reconstruct the self.


Keywords: trauma treatment, Western autobiography, narrative


Wang Cong, MA, teaches in School of General Education at Zhejiang Medical and Pharmaceutical College, China. Her research interest is literary aesthetics. E-mail: wangcong92@aliyun.com .