Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
“Roxane Gay seems to have a knack for fearlessly telling the truth.” —The New York Times
From the bestselling author of Hunger and Bad Feminist, an unforgettable, deeply personal look at how trauma has shaped her life and work—and what all of us need to do to come to grips with the collective suffering of the past year.
Bestselling author and cultural icon Roxane Gay is no stranger to trauma. As a young girl, she was the victim of a horrifying act of violence that changed her life and would strongly influence her career as a writer. In her 2017 memoir Hunger, she addressed that trauma head-on, writing with bracing honesty about her body and the ways that food can be used both to bury pain and make oneself disappear. The response to Hunger by some critics who seemed to take perverse pleasure in highlighting Gay’s vulnerabilities was itself a fresh wound. By exploring trauma publicly, Gay suffered more of it.
In her Scribd Original Writing into the Wound, Gay not only talks openly about trauma in her personal life—from her fraught time as an undergraduate at Yale to the stress of returning there as a visiting professor to the fallout from Hunger—but also about the collective trauma we’ve experienced this past year. COVID-19, racial and economic inequality, political strife, imminent environmental disaster, and more: Gay catalogs it all with her trademark candor and authority. To make sense of our pain, she suggests, we need to explore it fully, even as we’re still in the midst of it. Just as she writes her way through her own traumas and coaches her students to do the same, she urges us to take a long, hard look at the wounds we all share: “The world as we knew it has broken wide open. There is a before and an after, and the world will never again be what it once was. That sounds terrifying, but it is an opportunity.”
“To change the world, we need to face what has become of it,” she writes. “To heal from a trauma, we need to understand the extent of it.” Full of wisdom and rage and grace, Writing into the Wound is a remarkable consideration of where we are, and where we need to go, by one of the finest authors and cultural critics of her generation.
Related to Writing into the Wound
Related audiobooks
Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marriage Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Cute When You're Mad: Simple Steps for Confronting Sexism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shelter: A Love Letter to Trees Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letter to My Rage: An Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Scorched Men Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Burst of Light: and Other Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Uncertain Sea: Fear is everywhere. Embrace it. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Imagination: Black Voices on Black Futures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big-Hearted Boundaries: Caring for Yourself, Maintaining Your Relationships, and Setting Limits Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Junket Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What My Mother and I Don't Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heavy: An American Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Writing into the Wound
1,034 ratings63 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fantastic perspective on the art and craft of writing about one’s personal trauma as well as the trauma of others. I greatly appreciated this perspective on an area of writing I have yet to try.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5what a great read! enjoyed her insight very much. On to her other writings as well!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very insightful and informative to read. I really recommend it
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Delightful book. As a therapist, I was hoping for tools and activities to write about trauma. This was not it, and she explained specifically that when she was doing her writing group, she tried to stay away and not cater to therapists to use this as some sort of intervention. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful piece, highlighting her struggle and journey to process through difficult issues.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A memoir of the world, written to mitigate the pain, for in sharing people find solace
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deep and insightful. Gay speaks straight into the heart of this dismorphic existence.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The first book I listened to on Scribd. Would recommend listening to this after you've read some of Gay's other work. Although directly getting into this is fine too! Loved the narration. Loved the book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5That was fantastic! I’ve heard of Roxanne Gay before, but never tried her writing. But after listening to this book, I’ll be sure to learn more about the author and her work
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent and straight to the purpose of the book. I’m person and professionally leaning towards he author way of being with the landscape of trauma.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amazing! A good intro to her writing. The part about the pandemic can come off very privilege but that’s her reality.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It was interesting but it's from the point of view of someone in a privileged position.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I feel so sorry for all what the author has endured. Her journey chattered my heart and I think that she still needs to recover cz her wounds aren't healed yet
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Clear-eyed, moving, brave, and beautiful, this is a powerful short read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As an avid reader and aspiring writer I enjoyed this essay on writing about the most difficult topics. Love the idea of Scribd originals!