Explores how memoirs of widowhood can help us understand the reality of bereavement and the critical role of writing and reading in recovery.
The death of a beloved spouse after a lifetime of companionship is a life-changing experience. To help understand the reality of bereavement, Jeffrey Berman focuses on five extraordinary American writers-Joan Didion, Sandra Gilbert, Gail Godwin, Kay Redfield Jamison, and Joyce Carol Oates-each of whom has written a memoir of spousal loss. In each chapter, Berman gives an overview of the writer's life and art before widowhood, including her early preoccupation with death, and then discusses the writer's memoir and her life as a widow. He discovers that writing was, for all of these authors, both a solace and a lifeline, enabling them to maintain bonds with their lost loved ones while simultaneously moving on with their lives. These memoirs of widowhood, Berman maintains, reveal not only courage and resilience in the face of loss, but also the critical role of writing and reading in bereavement and recovery.
| ISBN: | 9781438458205 |
| Publication date: | 2nd July 2016 |
| Author: | Jeffrey Berman |
| Publisher: | SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 244 pages |
| Genres: |
Literature: history and criticism Child, developmental and lifespan psychology |
Explores how memoirs of widowhood can help us understand the reality of bereavement and the critical role of writing and reading in recovery.
The death of a beloved spouse after a lifetime of companionship is a life-changing experience. To help understand the reality of bereavement, Jeffrey Berman focuses on five extraordinary American writers-Joan Didion, Sandra Gilbert, Gail Godwin, Kay Redfield Jamison, and Joyce Carol Oates-each of whom has written a memoir of spousal loss. In each chapter, Berman gives an overview of the writer's life and art before widowhood, including her early preoccupation with death, and then discusses the writer's memoir and her life as a widow. He discovers that writing was, for all of these authors, both a solace and a lifeline, enabling them to maintain bonds with their lost loved ones while simultaneously moving on with their lives. These memoirs of widowhood, Berman maintains, reveal not only courage and resilience in the face of loss, but also the critical role of writing and reading in bereavement and recovery.
Writing Widowhood features in the following genres: Literature: history and criticism, Child, developmental and lifespan psychology
Writing Widowhood is available in Paperback, Hardback, Ebook
Writing Widowhood was written by Jeffrey Berman and published by SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press
Writing Widowhood has 244 pages