RM Vaughan's Troubled in Xtra!

On Thursday, March 27, Xtra!, Toronto's leading queer newspaper, interviewed RM Vaughan about his new book, Troubled. A blurb is below, but you can read the entire article at www.xtra.ca <!--newline--><!--newline-->In 1998 RM Vaughan had an affair with the psychiatrist he'd been receiving treatment from for two years. Shortly after terminating their professional relationship so they could be together the psychiatrist abruptly ended the affair. Shattered by the experience Vaughan reported the doctor's misconduct to the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons who revoked the psychiatrist's licence in 2000. When the College reinstated the psychiatrist's licence in 2005, Vaughan decided to pick up a pen.<!--newline--><!--newline-->"Rage was my first inspiration," says Vaughan, a Toronto writer, filmmaker and arts critic. "But it soon became more of an unfolding series of questions, from me to me. Why did I do that? How did I let that happen? What was in his mind? I did not set out to forgive ... but the funny thing about revenge is that it isn't very fulfilling in the long run."<!--newline--><!--newline-->. . . <!--newline--><!--newline-->Launching this spring with Coach House Books, Troubled is a gripping collection of Vaughan's poems, interspersed with letters between Vaughan and the College of Physicians, quotes from books on sexual misconduct in the Canadian medical profession and monologues from several of Vaughan's films. Vaughan is a master of style and, as always, his poems take us from one unexpected place to another.<!--newline--><!--newline-->. . . <!--newline--><!--newline-->In theory the book traces a clear narrative of events in Vaughan's life. But what gives Troubled much of its strength are the observations Vaughan makes outside of his own life, his observations as a poet looking at the bigger picture. Vaughan accomplishes this with his trademark ability to come at sadness sideways, to catch you with a heart-stabbing image when you're busy laughing your ass off. Lines like "it's all so CBC" and "if only I'd been fucked by a Kennedy" are not usual fare in a memoir about abuse and therefore grab readers from an entirely different angle.<!--newline--><!--newline-->. . . <!--newline--><!--newline-->Vaughan's memoir is clearly one man's story of surviving and forgiving abuse. It's also a well-founded indictment of the politics of psychiatry, a medical practice that, as Vaughan states in Troubled, "allows abusers to continue to work their evil magic." But it becomes something else as well — a metaphor for those moments when we become victims and later ask ourselves how we could be as stupid as other people.<!--newline--><!--newline-->"My hope," says Vaughan, "is that the book will appeal to anyone who has ever made a huge mistake, been caught in a malevolent system or wondered how their decision-making abilities could be so impaired — which is, I'm thinking, just about everybody. Conrad Black might like it. Maybe I'll send one to his prison."<!--newline-->