PostSecret is a curious research site to consider life narrative because it is anonymous, not only to an individual, but to a group. Anonymity is occasionally used in life narrative, however, most often it negates the individual to tell the story of a particular group, often one that has been historically or is currently considered marginalized (and even then, it is more likely to be considered a work of fiction). The only identifiable individual behind PostSecret is Frank Warren, it’s creator. Unattributed artists (who are aware in advance that they will not be named) create the secrets and the artwork, leaving Warren to simply sift through what has been sent to him and decide what to post on the blog when. The question surrounding this site is how something that considers itself an “ongoing community art project” can be considered by scholars as a form life narrative, even when there is no clearly identifiable life nor lives that it narrates.

The main page of PostSecret mentions little of its creator, Frank Warren. However, clicking on a link to postsecretlive.com brings the browser to a page dedicated almost entirely to Warren. The comments highlight on the main page focus less on his work than on him as an individual. Nine images when hovered over provide a brief description of what the pages they lead to, only three of those nine do not give Warren’s name as the very first words. Nine of the twelve images on the website are of Warren, not including the background, which is also of Warren. His image permeates the website, a website entitled postsecretlive.com, inferring that he represents PostSecret when it is not being seen as a blog. Warren does not claim to have created the secrets being used in his blog, however, he has benefited hugely at the hands of other’s labor, bringing about questions of agency and publication ethics. However, literary scholars may choose to ask questions more focused on the type of life narrative PostSecret creates: It would seem to create a sort of collective narrative of the artists contributing, but is it also creating a narrative of Warren’s life, and how do these two narratives relate and interact.

Again, PostSecret’s main page keeps Warren relatively separate from the equation, but, it provides links to alternative media that highlights his role in the matter. Even the official PostSecret Facebook page, advertised on the right-hand side of the blog, uses a photo of Warren as its profile picture. Warren orchestrates the existing secrets and does a lot of public speaking regarding the site. In a way, he fulfils a role similar to that of an editor for the more common prose life narrative (whilst taking on the supplementary work that an author may normally do such as speaking publicly of “his work”), but receives the public spotlight generally reserved for those who create content (not simply organize and publicize it). True scholarly investigation (the likes of which this blog post admittedly is not) should work to investigate this research site as an example of a life narrative in which the identity of the life being narrated is unclear and to relate it to the more typical interactions between identified (non-anonymous) authors and the individuals who work with text during the process of publication.

References:

http://postsecret.com/

Warren, Frank. “PostSecret.” PostSecret. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2017. <http://postsecret.com/>.