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shaun_lunga's review
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I recently listened to Roxane Gay’s essay "Writing into the Wound: Understanding Trauma, Truth, and Language" on Everand during my commute to work—trying not to get hit by a bus as I wore my headphones, attempting to look mysterious. I'm always in awe of Roxane Gay's brilliance, and this essay only deepened that admiration. It reflects on her experience teaching a writing workshop on trauma at Yale and explores what it means to hold space for stories of pain and resilience.
Roxane Gay is a masterful writer, particularly when it comes to the language of trauma. She writes with such tenderness and care, navigating the delicate terrain of what I would call ethical trauma writing. In the essay, she touches on the trauma caused by Trump's presidency, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, reminding us that to heal from trauma, we must first understand the extent of it.
Writing about trauma, particularly something as devastating as sexual assault, requires astonishing honesty. As writers, we bear the responsibility of not only telling our own stories but also being prepared to handle our trauma and that of others. Writing about trauma is a form of reckoning—a way to make sense of suffering and its impact on our lives. Whether it’s the aftermath of sexual violence, enduring a natural disaster, or coping with historical trauma, these experiences shape us in profound ways. And to discuss them, we need the language to do so with integrity.
But how do we write about trauma in ethical ways?
- How do we convey the realities of trauma and its aftermath without it becoming exploitative?
- How do we write about trauma without traumatizing the reader?
- How do we write about trauma without re-traumatizing ourselves, especially when dealing with our personal experiences?
- How do we write about trauma without cannibalizing our own experiences?
- How do we write about the traumatic experiences of others without transgressing their boundaries or invading their privacy?
daisy_may's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
sylvilel's review
reflective
I honestly have no idea how to rate this, because I think there’s definitely people who could benefit from reading it, but me it gave nothing.
It talks about personal and collective trauma in a very general passing-by kind of style, like «this is something we need to keep in mind»; but it doesn’t go any deeper into the subject, and I didn’t really learn anything from reading it.
It talks about personal and collective trauma in a very general passing-by kind of style, like «this is something we need to keep in mind»; but it doesn’t go any deeper into the subject, and I didn’t really learn anything from reading it.
ardystvs's review
3.0
The essay was beautifully written but the last part could've been better. The discussion on the pandemic, Trump, and the collective trauma experienced by America is a very lazy analysis added in order for the narrative to arrive at its conclusion. Also, the title of the essay is deceiving. Gay's work didn't attempt to teach readers how to write about trauma or how to study trauma in literature. Instead, she focused on her experience in teaching students how to explore this difficult subject in their writing. Writing into the Wound almost feels like an advertisement created to encourage its readers to enroll in Gay's future workshops or subscribe to her newsletter, The Audacity.
noel_rene_cisneros's review
4.0
Ensayo sobre la importancia de escribir sobre el trauma, en el cual Gay hace hincapié en que no es un proceso sencillo, ni fácil para no volver al trauma un espectáculo y ser comprensivo con quien lo padeció para lograr sanar.