I'm going through a bit of a research phase at the moment and I'm looking for some examples of books that deal with the following

1. Loss of self identity (primarily those caused by brain injury)

2. Good examples of protagonists dealing with amnesia, memory loss and the self doubt that ensues.

3. Books with nameless narrators (to get a better idea of blurb writing when there's no name)

Any and all suggestions welcome

Cheers

Geoff

For the nameless narrator I'd suggest Chuck Palahnuik's Fight Club.

I can't think of any that I've read off-hand that deal with amnesia.

For the loss of identity I can't think of any books either (except Invisible Monsters, Diary and Fight Club all by Palahnuik. I swear I read books by other authors!) but I would recommend taking a look through the archive at http://www.newscientist.com
They have several articles about brain injuries and abnormalities and the psychology of it (read a fascinating article about an australian woman who suffered a stroke and then couldn't dream for a year afterwards, there. Gave me some inspiration).

Sorry I can't be more helpful!

Emma

Hi Emma,

Nothing wrong with reading Palahniuk, though I have to admit I thought Invisible Monsters was a bit weak.

Have already trawled through the tedious archives of NewScientist (how crap is the search facility?) but to no avail. There were a few useful pieces but nothing that really stood out.

It seems to be a tricky area this one and more than once have I thought that I might have bitten off more than I can chew.

Geoff

Geoff,

If you fancy a film, I’d recommend “Momento”, apart from being good it might give you a few ideas…

Grinder

Have you tried books by Oliver Sachs? I'm thinking 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat' but I think he's also written fairly considerably on his specialism. Not sure if it's exactly what you want, but it's maybe worth investigating?
x
tc

Well, it's biographical, but what about 'Iris'?

Casey

For amnesia and self-doubt (and confusion at the world he's woken into) Great Apes by Will Self - I didn't like it as it just went on and on, but the first 100 pages or so are very good.

Not really amnesia, or even loss of self, but How late it was, how late by James Kelman does a pretty good loss of eyesight thingy with a bloke so far lost that it has to be relevant.

Sod it - even if it isn't relevant, it's a damn good read to distract you from your research.

This might be too young, but a teen fiction novel by Lee Weatherly called 'Kat got your tongue' covers amnesia.

Hey,

thanks everybody for all the suggestions I'll go and have a gander over on Amazon.

Geoff

I just read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Phillip K Dick & it might fit the loss of self-identity thing... or then again it might not, but read it anyway because it's brilliant!

Geoff I see someone has suggested Oliver Sachs. As well as the better known Hat book he wrote one called something like 'An anthropologist on (or from) Mars' which might be of some use to you. Unfortunately I lent my copy to someone years ago and it never came back so I can't check.


There was a sort of documentary film recently about a man who lost his memory and found himself wandering in an American city. Eventually someone who knew him identified him. He rebuilt his life and some of the film was about how he was a different sort of person from before. He didn't recognise anyone and hadn't got his memory back by the end of the film. I'll try to find out what it was later and post again if I can locate the title.

Naomi

<Added>

The film was called 'Unknown White Male'

Naomi