Misery lit

Misery lit is a literary genre dwelling on trauma, mental and physical abuse, destitution, or other enervating trials suffered by the protagonists or, allegedly, the writer (in the case of memoirs). While in a broad sense the genre is as at least as old as mass-market fiction (e.g., Les Misérables), the terms misery lit and misery porn are usually applied pejoratively to steamy potboilers, schlock horror, and lurid autobiographical wallows of dubious authenticity, especially those without a happy ending.^[1][2]

Works in the genre typically—though not exclusively—begin in the subject's childhood, and very often involve suffering some mistreatment, physical or sexual abuse, or neglect, perpetrated by an adult authority figure, often a parent or guardian. These tales usually culminate in some sort of emotional catharsis, redemption or escape from the abuse or situation. They are often written in the first person.^[1] It is also sometimes called "pathography."

Helen Forrester was credited with inventing the misery memoir genre with the bestseller Twopence to Cross the Mersey in 1974.^[3] Most critics ^[

Jung Chang's Wild Swans (1992) and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes (1996) are seen as seminal works establishing the genre.^[5]

Terminology

The genre is also called misery literature, misery porn, misery memoirs and trauma porn.

Popularity

In 2007, misery lit was described as "the book world's biggest boom sector".

The readership for these books is estimated to be "80% or 90% female".[7] Roughly 80% of the sales of misery lit books are made not in conventional bookstores but in mass-market outlets such as Asda and Tesco.^[2]

Criticism

Some of the genre's authors have said they write in order to come to terms with their traumatic memories, and to help readers do the same.^[8] Supporters of the genre state the genre's popularity indicates a growing cultural willingness to directly confront topics—specifically child sexual abuse—that once would have been ignored or swept under the rug.

However, a common criticism of the genre is the suggestion that its appeal lies in prurience and voyeurism.^[9] The Times writer Carol Sarler suggests the popularity of the genre indicates a culture "utterly in thrall to paedophilia". Other critics locate the genre's popular appeal in its combination of moral outrage and titillation.^[2]

Literary hoaxes

"Misery lit" has been proven to be a popular genre for

One early such hoax was the 1836 book Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, or, The Hidden Secrets of a Nun's Life in a Convent Exposed, by Maria Monk, which claimed to tell of Monk's abuse in a convent. The book was a fabrication, and although it contained a variety of factual errors, it became a widely read bestseller for several decades as it capitalized on anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States.^[10]

Other, more recent memoirs, which tell of childhood miseries as a result of parental abuse, drug use, illness and the like, have been exposed as hoaxes, including Go Ask Alice (1971) by Beatrice Sparks, A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy's Triumphant Story (1993) by "Anthony Godby Johnson", The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2001) by "JT LeRoy", Kathy's Story (2005) by Kathy O'Beirne^[11] and Love and Consequences (2008) by Margaret Seltzer.

Some memoirs of suffering have included elements of both truth and fiction. These include I, Rigoberta Menchú (1983) by Rigoberta Menchú (a book that won Menchú the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992), and A Million Little Pieces (2003) by James Frey. The latter was initially marketed as non-fiction, and attracted considerable controversy when it was revealed that significant portions of it were fabricated.

See also

• Literary forgery
• Fake memoirs
• Grief porn
• Gallows humor
• Grimdark

References