Narrating Madness

Subjectivity and the Politics of Representation

Abstract

This article explores the methodological challenges of approaching the literary analysis of autobiographical texts written by psychiatrized individuals, applying mad studies. Two main aspects are addressed, along with their close relationship: language and representativity. Mental health culture promotes a generalized discourse on how to speak about and frame madness, heavily influenced by the hegemonic discourse of psy disciplines. This paper also highlights the difficulties in representing madness outside these hegemonic frameworks of meaning and discusses the need to re-semanticize madness in order to re-subjectivize it. Finally, some linguistic and representational strategies are proposed, drawn from first-person accounts, which can serve as counter-examples to the epistemological framework assumed in Western science: narrativity itself, the use of collective language, the reappropriation of terms, and the creation of alternative concepts to medical-psychiatric knowledge.