Abstract

JADE is a novella told in the first person from the point of view a young university student, Jade, who becomes sexually involved with a professor, Cam Nott. Obsessed with literary theory, which she writes about in a journal, Jade exhilirates in the deconstruction of such hierarchies as "professor/student" and "virgin/whore." However, the power imbalance between her and Nott cannot be theorized out of existence, and it overwhelms her. Jade's behaviour grows increasingly strained and desperate in an apparent exhibition of "madness." She is eventually taken to a psychiatric hospital by police officers. Jade's experience of psychiatric abuse forces her to "normalize" but does not help her to heal. After her discharge, she realizes through writing about her experience that she is an incest survivor. Dreams and memories of being sexually abused follow, and Jade begins to move tentatively in the direction of healing.