Table of Contents for
Burdens of Proof: Faith, Doubt, and Identity in Autobiography by Susanna Egan

Acknowledgements

1. Doubting Thomas: The Implications of Imposture in Autobiography

2. Faith, Doubt, and Textual Identity

3. Sensational Identities: Made in the Media

4. "The Song My Paddle Sings": Grey Owl and Ethnic Imposture

5. "Frautobiography," or, Discourses of Deception

6. In Search of the Subject: The Disappearance of the Jews

In Conclusion: Textual Identities at Work in the World

Notes

Works Cited

Index

3

Sensational Identities: Made in the Media

Susanna Egan

Explores the role of the media in the creation of much contemporary imposture, examining in particular the cases of Jumana Hanna, Norma Khouri, and James Frey.

Susanna Egan has recently retired from the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. She has written extensively on autobiography and published two monographs: Patterns of Experience in Autobiography (1980) and Mirror Talk: Genres of Crisis in Contemporary Autobiography (2000). Her insecurities about knowledge having increased over the years, she can no longer distinguish between faith and doubt.