Confession Article

The author begins by explaining her interested in confessional writing. She explains, "I'm interested in confession for a number of reasons: some personal,
some academic. Mostly, I'm interested in the ways and places the two bump
up against, inform, and transform each other." (Goldthwaite 1) She talks not only about her favorite confessional writers such and Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, but also about confessions in movies like The Seventh Seal. Then she tells a story about he college days where one of her neighbors stalks her and later says that writing that story brought up uncomfortable emotions and put her in a "nervous state". An interesting topic comes up when she begins to discuss Sharon Olds. In an interview with NPR Olds explains that her confessional works aren't necessarily based on personal experiences, even very in poems that talk about "her parents". Goldthwaite goes back to the story about the stalker and relates it to confession, and how the stalker tried to force a confession out of her which she resented. She ends by saying, "Believe what I write, but don't ask me if it's true. This is not a confession." (Goldthwaite 21)