“Don’t tell me how to write as a survivor”: Post-traumatic Narrative Wreckage and Agency in American Rape Memoirs

When author Myriam Gurba was questioned by critics and reviewers for using humor as a narrative strategy in Mean, her 2017 autobiographical account of sexual assault, she responded with a reaffirmation of her creative agency: “Don’t tell me how to write, as a survivor”.1 In her view, navigating the aftermath of traumatic violence grants her a distinct testimonial authority that she has actively reclaimed across interviews and essays.

Working within a trauma-informed epistemology, this seminar will explore how Gurba and other memoirists of rape in the US navigate the narrative wreckage caused by post-traumatic stress and the systemic impact of sexual violence.2 Focusing on life writing from the Me Too era, the presentation will build upon some key theoretical insights to examine how survivors reclaim narrative agency and challenge conventional trauma scripts. The session will combine a conceptual presentation with selected case studies to foster an interactive discussion with participants.

About the Speaker Professor Marta Fernández Morales is currently a Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Medical Humanities.

Department of English, French and German Philology; University of Oviedo (Spain)
‘HEAL’ Research Group
Visiting Fellow, IMH (3-24 November 2026)

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This in-person event is free to attend.

This seminar is hosted by the Institute for Medical Humanities' Violence, Trauma, and Memory Research Strand.