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    Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language
    Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language
    Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language
    Audiobook1 hour

    Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language

    Written by Roxane Gay

    Narrated by Roxane Gay

    4.5/5

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    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEverand Originals
    Release dateFeb 11, 2021
    ISBN9781094400037
    Author

    Roxane Gay

    Roxane Gay is the author of the New York Times bestselling essay collection Bad Feminist; the novel An Untamed State, a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize; the New York Times bestselling memoir Hunger; and the short story collections Difficult Women and Ayiti. A contributing opinion writer to the New York Times, for which she also writes the “Work Friend” column, she has written for Time, McSweeney’s, the Virginia Quarterly Review, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, and Oxford American, among many other publications. Her work has also been selected for numerous Best anthologies, including Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018 and Best American Mystery Stories 2014. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. In 2018 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and holds the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University’s Institute for Women’s Leadership.

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    Reviews for Writing into the Wound

    4.5/5

    1,276 ratings77 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This is an excellent view of how to share with boundaries. Her back story has peaked in interest in her other works and suggested readings. More noticeably is motive, the concept of exploiting the wound of others for ratings or ones own advancements. Create a clear intention of how, when, and what to share from your wound.
    • 1/5
      Waste of time, she just tells something about her history.
    • 1/5
      Basically, it is a pamphlet offering nothing more than an Ivy League academic tooting her own horn and offering political and social commentary. As an aspiring author wanting to begin with a helpful trauma guide to young widows, I found zero value in a title that claimed just that.
    • 5/5
      Gay is amazing! I highly recommend EVERYTHING by this author
    • 4/5
      Makes you think. Very reflective. Empowering and vulnerable. Raw and emotional.
    • 5/5
      Clearly written and narrated. Raw and yet dignified. Challenging, validating, obviously current but sadly also timeless and universal.
    • 5/5
      This was poignant and I cannot wait to get my hands on her writing!
    • 5/5
      The author’s voice is comforting, and her strength is admirable.
    • 5/5
      Compelling and informative with bits of humor in author's own lovely voice!

      So helpful for my writing journey, I decided to read the book too.

      Highly recommend for creators and listeners of memoirs, novels, interviews, podcasts, and yes - even true crime and the news.

      ***
      Breakdown

      * Beginning – Life Lessons *
      (Woven into a beautifully compelling narrative, not necessarily in this order)

      -Roxanne's personal journey from her dramatic (and traumatic) "disappearance" from college to her return to that same (Ivy League) university "under vastly different circumstances" as a professor. Great storytelling that exemplifies her subsequent lessons on using humor and metaphor in personal trauma writing (sometimes but not always applicable) and not allowing the trauma dictate or overwhelm the whole of the narrative. Must listen!

      –Roxanne's life lessons from writing and publishing her memoir, Hunger. Vital for for authors, especially memoirists. Very important for journalists, reviewers, publicists, other industry professionals, and frankly anyone who interacts with and/or comments on authors and their work. (This means you).

      – Roxanne's thoughts on the many, many problems with most writing about trauma and the word itself, how she developed her ideas around trauma writing as a discipline. Very important for writers and creators. Readers and listers may also find it interesting.

      * Middle – Workshop *
      Roxanne shares insights and recommended readings from her Ivy League course on writing about trauma. This is the point at which I stopped listening, started reading, took notes, and then came back to finish listening. (It's so short I finished both the ebook and audiobook complete with notes in just a few hours. Writing my reviews took longer!) Must read and listen!

      * End – Current/Collective Events *
      Roxanne covers writing about collective traumas like the COVID-19 pandemic, police brutality, violent and oppressive regimes, amongst others. She talks about why she writes on these topics and how she navigates the various challenges.

      Personally, I didn't like her coverage of certain topics in this section and found it re-triggering even when broached only briefly. (Her style was suddenly straight and objective, a stark and sudden shift from her usually warm and soothing tone).

      Still, many valid and important points.

      * Conclusion *
      The final sentences capture the spirit of the book best:

      "There is no pleasure to be had in writing about trauma. It requires opening a wound, looking into the bloody gape of it, and cleaning it out, one word at a time. Only then might it be possible for that wound to heal." -Roxanne Gay
      (On "writing into the wound")

      ***
      Roxanne has a lovely reading voice and a wonderful teaching style. If you have a wound to open up and clean word for word, she's the guide you want.

      Again, highly recommend!
    • 5/5
      I felt resonance, bravery and truth in Roxanne's experience and words. I look forward to reading much more from her audacity and sensitivity.
    • 5/5
      Incredible! Keeping this one on my book shelf to read again and again
    • 4/5
      A 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.
    • 5/5
      what a great read! enjoyed her insight very much. On to her other writings as well!
    • 5/5
      Very insightful and informative to read. I really recommend it
    • 4/5
      Delightful 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.
    • 5/5
      The 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!
    • 5/5
      That 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
    • 5/5
      Excellent 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.
    • 4/5
      Amazing! A good intro to her writing. The part about the pandemic can come off very privilege but that’s her reality.
    • 4/5
      I 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
    • 5/5
      Clear-eyed, moving, brave, and beautiful, this is a powerful short read.
    • 5/5
      As an avid reader and aspiring writer I enjoyed this essay on writing about the most difficult topics. Love the idea of Scribd originals!
    • 5/5
      This is short, but what the author said about writing trauma, resonates, and it is not only factual but truthful.
    • 5/5
      An inspiring and thoughtful examination of trauma, both personal and collective, and how to write through and about trauma in a way that is healing, constructive and respectful.
    • 5/5
      Honest and harrowing. I struggle to write about my own traumas but books like these always remind me that it might be worth it. Someone is listening
    • 5/5
      Great and moving... to learn by heart, for sure I will!!
    • 5/5
      As always, Dr Gay left me reflecting, hoping and envisioning how to be in the world. Her voice an anchor to the depth of wisdom. Gracias
    • 5/5
      Clear, moving, authentic. I have Hunger on my bookshelf and now I’m reaching for it.
    • 5/5
      Short and to the point. Anecdotal without conceit. Listening with open mind to her truths.
    • 5/5
      My favorite writer does not disappoint. Listening and reflecting on this piece during a pandemic is the most reassuring and comforting experiences I have had all year. Dr. Gay is a talented writer and an inspiration to so many writers.