This essay explores the relationship between grief and personal expression. I use Sigmund Freud’s conceptualisations of the German word heimlich as a way to understand the ambiguity of a grief that has been buried and the narratives of self that ensued. I argue that writing and other forms of personal expression allow us to bring these ambiguities closer to us, to examine them and then to properly let them go. This is the story of how grief shook my family. The more theoretical aspects of this essay were drawn from research which formed part of my Master’s thesis at Curtin University of Technology.
Maria Papas
Maria Papas’ essays and stories have appeared in a number of publications including Griffith Review and Lines in the Sand. In 2011 her play Arbour day was performed at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, where it won the Maj Monologues Award. She tutors at Curtin University of Technology and is currently studying a PhD at the University of Western Australia.
