No Apologies: Jenny Diski's Apology for the Woman Writing as Fictional Memoir

This essay argues that Jenny Diski's final novel, Apology for the Woman Writing, adds to the understanding of Diski's view on literature and the arts, thus complementing her nonfiction writing. Drawing on notions of survival and the Freudian uncanny, the essay shows how the relationships b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inAuto/biography studies Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 289 - 307
Main Author Bayer, Gerd
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 02.01.2023
Subjects
autobiography
De Gournay
Diski
fiction
Montaigne
survival
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This essay argues that Jenny Diski's final novel, Apology for the Woman Writing, adds to the understanding of Diski's view on literature and the arts, thus complementing her nonfiction writing. Drawing on notions of survival and the Freudian uncanny, the essay shows how the relationships between Michel de Montaigne and Marie de Gournay and between De Gournay and her servant Jamyn are built around notions of affective engagement, where the intellectual labor of writing conjoins physical experiences of excitement. Such a view of literature as affect is then directly connected to the force of a text to survive.
ISSN:0898-9575
2151-7290
DOI:10.1080/08989575.2022.2135342