misery memoir
n.— «Last monday, the mother of Constance Briscoe lost the libel action she had brought against her daughter for the publication of Ugly, Briscoe’s memoir of her upbringing of neglect and abuse. The case was both astonishing and tragic. We are fascinated, in part, by what have come to be called “misery memoirs” because they seem to offer a spectacle that is against nature—surely mothers and fathers love their children.» —“Erica Wagner on how memoirs prove our lives are not lives alone” by Erica Wagner Times (London, United Kingdom) Dec. 4, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The new Downton Abbey movie is a luscious treat for fans of the public-television period piece, but how accurate is the script when it comes to the vocabulary of the early 20th century? It may be jarring to hear the word swag, but it was already at...
