Review of Pathemata by Maggie Nelson – a writer’s effort to convey the experience of chronic pain | Autobiography and memoir
In her notable 1985 work, *The Body in Pain*, Elaine Scarry discusses the “embarrassment” of pain and its resistance to being expressed in words. She notes that “physical pain” doesn’t just reject language; it can actively destroy it. This notion resonates with Virginia Woolf’s earlier observation about language being “dry” when it’s failing. Both of […]