John Benjamins Publishing Company
“Woundable, around the bounds”
Abstract
Writing about death and inscribing it into their texts is a way of exploring a realm neither dying autobiographers nor their readers can know about. Since writing about death seems to fall out of the paradigm of representation, writing about it means writing about what cannot be known, and yet, in my selected illness narratives death is omnipresent. In my chapter I will focus on the close relationship between narrating one’s illness and one’s possible or even impending death and ask how the autobiographer’s use of language mirrors death that “falls outside the thinkable” (de Certeau, 1984, p. 191). Narrative as a concept that enables its author to construct some kind of meaning of disrupting and anxiety-inspiring experiences – often dominating in illness narratives – guides my analysis (cf. also our introduction). This crucial effect of such a narrative is pertinent to both writer and reader. Furthermore I also address issues related to affect studies and to the intricate relationship between the suffering self (autobiographer) and the other (reader). The illness narratives discussed are Audre Lorde’s A Burst of Light, Sandra Butler andBarbara Rosenblum’s Cancerin Two Voices, Gillian Rose’s Love’s Work, and Harold Brodkey’s This Wild Darkness.
Abstract
Writing about death and inscribing it into their texts is a way of exploring a realm neither dying autobiographers nor their readers can know about. Since writing about death seems to fall out of the paradigm of representation, writing about it means writing about what cannot be known, and yet, in my selected illness narratives death is omnipresent. In my chapter I will focus on the close relationship between narrating one’s illness and one’s possible or even impending death and ask how the autobiographer’s use of language mirrors death that “falls outside the thinkable” (de Certeau, 1984, p. 191). Narrative as a concept that enables its author to construct some kind of meaning of disrupting and anxiety-inspiring experiences – often dominating in illness narratives – guides my analysis (cf. also our introduction). This crucial effect of such a narrative is pertinent to both writer and reader. Furthermore I also address issues related to affect studies and to the intricate relationship between the suffering self (autobiographer) and the other (reader). The illness narratives discussed are Audre Lorde’s A Burst of Light, Sandra Butler andBarbara Rosenblum’s Cancerin Two Voices, Gillian Rose’s Love’s Work, and Harold Brodkey’s This Wild Darkness.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction to narrative matters in medical contexts across disciplines 1
-
Narrative texts on illness and medicine
- Autism and the American dream 17
- “Woundable, around the bounds” 33
- Pox pain and redeeming narratives in Renaissance Europe 47
-
Narrative practices in health contexts
- Illness narratives in the psychotherapeutic session 73
- Narratives that matter. Illness stories in the ‘third space’ of qualitative interviewing 99
- “I would suggest you tell this ^^^ to your doctor” 117
- A genre analysis of reflective writing texts by English medical students 141
-
Narratives and the medical humanities
- Against compassion 167
- Applying narrative to medical education 183
- Bionotes 207
- Subject Index 211
- Name Index 215
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction to narrative matters in medical contexts across disciplines 1
-
Narrative texts on illness and medicine
- Autism and the American dream 17
- “Woundable, around the bounds” 33
- Pox pain and redeeming narratives in Renaissance Europe 47
-
Narrative practices in health contexts
- Illness narratives in the psychotherapeutic session 73
- Narratives that matter. Illness stories in the ‘third space’ of qualitative interviewing 99
- “I would suggest you tell this ^^^ to your doctor” 117
- A genre analysis of reflective writing texts by English medical students 141
-
Narratives and the medical humanities
- Against compassion 167
- Applying narrative to medical education 183
- Bionotes 207
- Subject Index 211
- Name Index 215
