Department(s)
Communication
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Keywords
Narrative, Violence against women, Therapeutic Rhetoric, Victim, Survivor, Reader Response
Abstract
This essay explores reader reviews of Alice Sebold’s memoir, Lucky, which describes her rape in college while simultaneously employing and confronting dominant rape scripts. Even so, reviews of the memoir on Amazon.com employ a therapeutic interpretation of the story that emphasizes Sebold’s ability to survive, seek justice, and recover. I argue that readers’ reliance on therapeutic rhetoric reinforces the myth that rape is a problem for individual women, rather than society as a whole, and reflects an ongoing barrier to the success of feminist anti-rape efforts.
Publication Title
Women & Language
Volume
37
Recommended Citation
Stone Watt, S. E. (2014). Seeking survival, justice, and recovery: Citizen critics’ therapeutic interpretations of Alice Sebold’s Lucky. Women & Language, 37(1), 63–86.