Tainted Testimony : The Khouri Affair

Abstract

"we might read Forbidden Love in terms of a set of conditions that have allowed stories of abuse, trauma and exploitation to drive the memoir boom of the recent past. However Khouri's book is now labelled as tainted testimony, and her reputation as an authoritative autobiographer and biographer is lost—the contract for the sequel has been rescinded by Random House. On what basis? After all, published life narratives are not held to account by juridical laws of evidence and proof. Khouri warns us that she has masked truth to protect other women. When does a testimony become a hoax? When does autobiography become untruth?"