Misery Literature

Misery literature, also called misery lit, misery porn, misery memoirs and trauma porn, is a literary genre dwelling on trauma, mental and physical abuse, destitution, or other enervating trials suffered by the protagonists or, allegedly, the writer. While in a broad sense the genre is as at least as old as mass-market fiction, the terms misery lit and misery porn are usually applied pejoratively to steamy potboilers, schlock horror, and lurid autobiographical wallows of dubious authenticity, especially those without a happy ending. Misery literature has also been proven to be a popular genre for literary hoaxes in which authors claim to reveal painful stories from their past.