A powerful personal narrative of recovery and an illuminating
philosophical exploration of trauma On July 4, 1990, while on a
morning walk in southern France, Susan Brison was attacked from
behind, severely beaten, sexually assaulted, strangled to
unconsciousness, and left for dead. She survived, but her world was
destroyed. Her training as a philosopher could not help her make sense
of things, and many of her fundamental assumptions about the nature of
the self and the world it inhabits were shattered. At once a personal
narrative of recovery and a philosophical exploration of trauma, this
bravely and beautifully written book examines the undoing and remaking
of a self in the aftermath of violence. It explores, from an
interdisciplinary perspective, memory and truth, identity and self,
autonomy and community. It offers imaginative access to the experience
of a rape survivor as well as a reflective critique of a society in
which women routinely fear and suffer sexual violence. As Brison
observes, trauma disrupts memory, severs past from present, and
incapacitates the ability to envision a future. Yet the act of bearing
witness, she argues, facilitates recovery by integrating the
experience into the survivor's life's story. She also argues for the
importance, as well as the hazards, of using first-person narratives
in understanding not only trauma, but also larger philosophical
questions about what we can know and how we should live.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781400841493
Publisert
2013
Utgiver
Vendor
Princeton University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter