Confessional writing

Confessional writing

In literature, confessional writing is a first-person style that is often presented as an ongoing diary or letters, distinguished by revelations of a person's heart and darker motivations.

Originally, the term derived from confession: the writer is not only autobiographically recounting his life, but confessing to his sins. Among the earliest examples is St Augustine's Confessions, perhaps the first autobiography of Western Europe. In it, he not only recounted the events of his life, he wrestled with their meaning and significiance, as in a passage where he tried to fathom why he had stolen pears with friends, not to eat but to throw away.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau turned it to a more secular purpose in his Confessions.

From this meaning evolved the meaning of writing that reveals more of the writer's heart and motivations, particularly the darker reactions, and the events that are normally kept secret.

Fictionally, the confessional story is a story written, in the first person, about emotionally fraught and morally charged situations in which a fictional character is caught. These stories may be anything from thinly veiled recountings of the writer's life, to completely fictional works.

With the advent of the magazine True Story in 1919 and the imitations of it, the confessional (or romance) magazine was created, containing such stories.[1] Such confessions magazines were chiefly aimed at an audience of working class women.[2] Their formula has been characterized as "sin-suffer-repent": the heroine violates standards of behavior, suffers as a consequence, learns her lesson and resolves to live in light of it, unembittered by her pain.[3]

See also

  • Confessional poet

References

  1. ^ Linda M. Scott, Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism p 158 ISBN 1-4039-6686-9
  2. ^ Maureen Honey, Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender and Propaganda during World War II, p. 139, ISBN 0-87023-443-9
  3. ^ Maureen Honey, Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender and Propaganda during World War II, p. 141-43, ISBN 0-87023-443-9



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Confessional (disambiguation) — A confessional is a small, enclosed booth used for confession. It may also refer to: In cinema: The Confessional a French movie from 1994. Confessional (film), a Cebuano mockumentary indie film. In music: Confessional (album) a 2006 album by… …   Wikipedia

  • Confessional poetry — emphasizes the intimate, and sometimes unflattering, information about details of the poet s personal life, such as in poems about mental illness, sexuality, and despondence. The confessionalist label was applied to a number of poets of the 1950s …   Wikipedia

  • confessional — ► NOUN 1) an enclosed stall in a church, in which a priest sits to hear confessions. 2) a confession. ► ADJECTIVE 1) (of speech or writing) in which a person admits to private thoughts or incidents in their past. 2) relating to religious… …   English terms dictionary

  • confessional — [[t]kənfe̱ʃən(ə)l[/t]] confessionals 1) N COUNT A confessional is the small room in a church where Christians, especially Roman Catholics, go to confess their sins. 2) ADJ GRADED A confessional speech or writing contains confessions. The… …   English dictionary

  • confessional — con|fes|sion|al1 [kənˈfeʃənəl] n a place in a church, usually an enclosed room, where a priest hears people make their confessions confessional 2 confessional2 adj confessional speech or writing contains private thoughts or feelings that you… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • confessional — 1 noun (C) a place in a church, usually an enclosed room, where a priest hears people make their confessions 2 adjective confessional speech or writing contains private thoughts or facts that you normally want to keep secret, especially private… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • confessional — noun 1》 an enclosed stall in a church, divided by a screen, in which a priest sits to hear confessions. 2》 a confession. adjective 1》 (of speech or writing) in which a person reveals or admits to private thoughts or incidents in their past. 2》… …   English new terms dictionary

  • literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… …   Universalium

  • My Life As a Man — First edition cover My Life As a Man (1974) is American writer Philip Roth s seventh novel. Contents 1 Summary 2 …   Wikipedia

  • Плат, Сильвия — Сильвия Плат англ. Sylvia Plath Сильвия Плат. Кембридж, 1957 год …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”