Troubling Detail

Abstract

At the end of 2008, Carolyn Ellis published Revisions, in which she revisits and reflects upon previously published work. This paper was originally written for a “Reader meets Author” Plenary at the 5th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, May 22nd–23rd, 2009, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.¹ Each member of the panel was invited to choose a passage, comment and raise questions (particularly about writing) for Carolyn Ellis to respond to. The paper focuses on the chapter where Ellis returns to two papers about her then ageing mother.