Merial Boschung's Blog

I think it is safe to assume that whenever one does anything in their everyday, others’ opinions of them greatly influence their actions. Is this influence also a factor for an author of a life narrative, but on a wider scale? And, if it is, what does this experience suggest about the legitimacy of any life narrative?

These are questions that float through my mind as I read Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith’s “Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights”  in comparison with G.T. Couser’s “Signifying Bodies”.

In short, I do believe that writers of life narratives consider others’ opinions of their works, although I do not believe that this is a restrictive or delegitimizing sentiment. In Schaffer and Smith’s article, the authors describe an element of unpredictability in the circulation and reception of a life narrative. Simply put, there is no way for the author or publisher to truly know how their audience will react, nor who their audience will eventually be (Schaffer, Smith 18). As a result of this unpredictability, I would argue that the writer is actually freer to portray their self and situation just as they are. They do not need to write to please the masses because there is no way that they would be able to do so in the first place. What this leaves is an unhindered writer, such as Stella Young. She shares her opinion regarding “inspiration porn” frankly: she does not sugar-coat her anger at the segregation of disabled people. She is free to portray herself and her situation just as they are, because she does not control her audience or their reception of her work.

There is a point to be made, however, which questions whether the freedom of the authors of life narratives actually inspires them to portray themselves truthfully, or whether it causes them to overly dramatize their self or situation. In his section titled “Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir”, Couser describes many types of “persuasive speech or writing” styles in the disability memoir (Couser 33), each of which portrays the author’s ‘trauma’ or experience somewhat problematically. Be it idealist positivity (rhetoric of “triumph”) (33) or extreme negativity (“gothic rhetoric”) (35), the dramatization of one’s life narrative discredits the legitimacy of their published narrative. It can cause the reader to wonder:

“Did they really experience this, or are they just over exaggerating?”

There is a sense here that, although it is completely up to the writer to portray themselves as they like due to the unpredictability of circulation and reception, there is still a general expectation that one who bears witness to a traumatic event must be respectful and honest about it.

In the end, the author of a life narrative is in a position of freedom. Because of the possibility for individuals to experience similar forms of trauma, however, it is important for authors to be honest in their storytelling. Mutual respect will ultimately be the determining factor for the positive reception of a life narrative.

Works Cited

Couser, G. Thomas. “Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir.”Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2009. 33. Print.

Schaffer, Kay, and Sidonie Smith. “Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights.” Human Rights and Narrated Lives (2004): 15-20. Print.