Bibliograph

The becoming, a memoir, Nicole Luongo

Type

Label

The becoming, a memoir, Nicole Luongo

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The becoming

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

Nicole Luongo

Series statement

Inanna memoir series

Sub title

a memoir

Summary

The Becoming is a brutal account of mental illness by a woman who doesn't believe in mental illness. As the author embarks on a PhD at the University of Oxford, a lifetime of addiction, eating disorders, and trauma culminates in an explosive hospital stay that sees her achieve liberation through psychosis. Her journey from terror to acceptance is grueling, and she makes meaning of it by weaving reflexive narrative with classic and nascent scholarship. Part phenomenological recounting, part social critique, the text disrupts biomedical approaches to altered states by exploring their emancipatory potential. It also illuminates how conventional mental health treatment pathologizes human suffering. In doing so, The Becoming contributes to anti-psychiatry and Mad studies projects, each asking, "What does it mean to be normal?" and "Should we be sane in an insane world?"

Target audience

adult

Classification