Wounded storyteller:: Illness as life narrative in Nina!Bouraoui's 'Garcon Manque'

This article considers Nina Bouraoui's Garcon manque (Paris, 2000) within the generic framework of the life narrative, and from the thematic perspective of illness. Exploring nuances of identity and sexuality within the narrative, the article investigates the re-claiming of gendered, social and sexual subjectivity implicit in the self-referential literary project. The discussion is underpinned by theories of the "sick" body, and the analysis identifies and explores primordial notions of identity, trauma and social "normality" within the narrative.