Creative nonfiction: narrative and revelation.

Overview

Creative nonfiction and the illness narrative are recently identified approaches to literary expression. They are particularly well suited to the genre of memoir where psychological issues such as mourning and attachment and loss may be explored. The recent memoirs of Sue Erikson Bloland and Honor Moore fulfill the description of creative nonfiction. They offer their readers an opportunity to explore with them the theological and existential issues of revelation, reconciliation, and forgiveness. This paper was first presented for the Working Group on Psychoanalysis and the Arts of the Richardson Research Seminar in the History of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College.