""People are always writing from their own lives. You can't ever change what's already happened to you, but when you write about it, you can reframe it. Take control of it, maybe.""
"Discipline's innovation is to situate a foundational trauma at the center of autofiction's main questions, leading the book away from its restrained, minimal plot."
"The first-person speakers in their novels, as in Pham's, are well-educated, youngish creatives foundering through adulthood, struggling to make the art they so desperately wish to create."
"Readers of Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy might feel a flash of déjà vu as Pham, too, constructs her protagonist through observations about art and conversations with other people."
Discipline, a debut novel by Larissa Pham, centers on Christina, a young writer and former painter grappling with a past affair with her professor. The narrative delves into the complexities of teacher-student relationships and the consequences of such dynamics. Pham's work reflects on the blurred lines between the author and protagonist, as both share experiences of trauma and creativity. The novel innovatively places foundational trauma at the heart of autofiction, leading to a profound exploration of art's intersection with personal history.
Read at Hyperallergic
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