trauma
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The Sunday Rumpus Interview: Patrick O’Neil
Patrick O’Neil talks about his debut memoir Gun Needle Spoon, being big in France, the drug/recovery genre, and writing through trauma.
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“The Labor of Reconsideration”
For the Millions, Philip Graham considers how childhood traumas can inspire art. In his exploration, Graham looks to works by John Gardner, Rabih Alameddine, and James Baldwin, authors who confront “psychic wounds” and use writing as a method of healing: We…
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The Rumpus Interview with Sarah Tomlinson
Author Sarah Tomlinson talks about ghostwriting, her father and childhood, the tradition of confessional writing, and her new memoir, Good Girl.
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Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through
How do we begin to describe the indescribable? In McSweeney’s newest book That Thing You Do With Your Mouth, actor Samantha Matthews and author David Shields challenge the way we think about trauma by changing the way we talk about…
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The Rumpus Interview with Elisa Albert
Elisa Albert discusses her new novel, After Birth, postpartum depression, childbearing, and the misogyny of modern medicine in pathologizing the normal processes of birth and the female body.
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Make/Work Episode 22: Mick
In episode 22 of The Rumpus’s Make/Work podcast, Scott Pinkmountain speaks with guitarist and songwriter Mick about his childhood abuse, drug use, and the crucial need for alternatives to Katy Perry.
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Out of the Binders and Into the Refrigerators
The success of The Magicians trilogy stems in part from its self-awareness. Lev Grossman wields his familiarity with fantasy genre fiction to critique and alter the usual formula. So why do his female characters all serve the same purpose? …he’d…
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Writing in the Discomfort Zone
Traumatic experiences can elicit strong reactions from readers, but first writers must overcome the challenge of confronting the emotionally uncomfortable situation. At Beyond the Margins, Juliette Fay describes writing from her discomfort zone: I learned more about the gruesomely creative…
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“Inside, I Still Feel Like I’m 15 to 18 Years Old”
Ever wonder why the high-school years are the focus of so many movies, books, and fun memories you can’t get over despite years of therapy? New York Magazine‘s Jennifer Senior (whose surname is presumably not intended as a pun) investigates the matter from…
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25 Years
I was a first grader at Hubbard Wood School in 1988 when a woman entered my school and shot six kids.