https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.014
Chronicling the Clinical: A Critical Analysis of the Memoir Haldol and Hyacinths by Melody Moezzi
KRISHNA PRIYA S
Research Scholar
Institute of English
University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram
DR. APPU JACOB JOHN
Assistant Professor
Institute of English
University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram
Abstract: Life narratives have gained immense readership lately, with the influx of different autobiographical writing. This has enhanced the scope of self-expression, along with the liberties of experimentation that come with it. Memory also plays a crucial role in the politics of self–fashioning effected through life narratives. In life narratives, illness narratives have become a critical portal for creative engagements with illness experiences. Illness narratives are also known as autopathography, and those narratives involving experiences of mental illness are known as mental health user narratives. They help to gauge knowledge derived from experience of a person who has endured mental illness conditions. The study examines the memoir Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life by Melody Moezzi, which is an autobiographical account of the mental illness, bipolar disorder, in order to identify how the key characteristics of memoir as a literary genre aid in representing the complex nature of mad identity. Melody Moezzi is an Iranian American Muslim woman, and her bipolar experiences are essentially mediated by the socio-political influences of the space she belongs to. The present paper, by analysing the selected text through a qualitative lens, seeks to undermine the ways in which the author’s narrative identity has evolved through interactions with illness experiences.
Keywords: Memory, memoirs, autopathography, bipolar disorder, narrative-identity
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