Stella Bolaki
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781474402422
- eISBN:
- 9781474418591
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474402422.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The introduction provides an overview of illness narratives and illness narrative scholarship, focusing on the contested territory of narrative. Illness narratives, in the first wave of medical ...
More
The introduction provides an overview of illness narratives and illness narrative scholarship, focusing on the contested territory of narrative. Illness narratives, in the first wave of medical humanities, are restricted to narratives of a certain type: the linear, progressive, story bound by the context of biomedicine and the doctor-patient encounter, which largely serve the needs of medicine. Building on the work of literary/cultural studies critics and medical humanities scholars who have challenged the instrumental direction of the medical humanities, the Introduction suggests that it is a timely moment to expand the field’s scope and existing approaches so as to make it more critical. Arguing for the inclusion of different arts and media and putting forward the idea of ‘critical interloping,’ it calls for more cross-fertilisation between contemporary arts and media practices/scholarship on the one hand and the fields of illness narratives and the medical humanities on the other. The final section of the Introduction describes the book’s chapter structure. It shows how the selected case studies open up the illness narrative category while also addressing some of its limits and conservative assumptions from within; that is, through the works’ own generic multiplicity and mixed-media nature.Less
The introduction provides an overview of illness narratives and illness narrative scholarship, focusing on the contested territory of narrative. Illness narratives, in the first wave of medical humanities, are restricted to narratives of a certain type: the linear, progressive, story bound by the context of biomedicine and the doctor-patient encounter, which largely serve the needs of medicine. Building on the work of literary/cultural studies critics and medical humanities scholars who have challenged the instrumental direction of the medical humanities, the Introduction suggests that it is a timely moment to expand the field’s scope and existing approaches so as to make it more critical. Arguing for the inclusion of different arts and media and putting forward the idea of ‘critical interloping,’ it calls for more cross-fertilisation between contemporary arts and media practices/scholarship on the one hand and the fields of illness narratives and the medical humanities on the other. The final section of the Introduction describes the book’s chapter structure. It shows how the selected case studies open up the illness narrative category while also addressing some of its limits and conservative assumptions from within; that is, through the works’ own generic multiplicity and mixed-media nature.
Stella Bolaki
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781474402422
- eISBN:
- 9781474418591
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474402422.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Illness narratives have become a cultural phenomenon in the Western world but their analysis continues to be framed by the context of biomedicine, the doctor-patient encounter and the demands of ...
More
Illness narratives have become a cultural phenomenon in the Western world but their analysis continues to be framed by the context of biomedicine, the doctor-patient encounter and the demands of medical training. This reductive attitude prevents the inclusion of more formally experimental genres, different themes and interdisciplinary methods within the field. It also perpetuates the view of the medical humanities as a narrow area of study largely serving the needs of medicine. Exploring the aesthetic, ethical and cultural importance of contemporary representations of illness across different arts and media, this book intervenes in current debates in medical humanities/medical education by emphasising more critical as opposed to instrumental approaches. Opening up the category of illness narrative to consider forms beyond literature, Illness as Many Narratives includes chapters on photography, artists’ books, performance art, film, theatre, animation and online narratives. The book examines different physical and mental illness experiences in both autobiographical and collaborative/relational narratives and offers new close readings of diverse works by Jo Spence, Sam Taylor-Wood, Martha A. Hall, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Wim Wenders, Lisa Kron and others. Approaching illness and its treatments as a multiplicity and situating them in relation to aesthetics, theory, radical pedagogy, politics and contemporary cultural concerns, Illness as Many Narratives demonstrates how bringing in diverse materials and engaging with multiple perspectives can help the arts, cultural studies and the medical humanities to establish critical conversations and amplify the goals and scope of their respective work.Less
Illness narratives have become a cultural phenomenon in the Western world but their analysis continues to be framed by the context of biomedicine, the doctor-patient encounter and the demands of medical training. This reductive attitude prevents the inclusion of more formally experimental genres, different themes and interdisciplinary methods within the field. It also perpetuates the view of the medical humanities as a narrow area of study largely serving the needs of medicine. Exploring the aesthetic, ethical and cultural importance of contemporary representations of illness across different arts and media, this book intervenes in current debates in medical humanities/medical education by emphasising more critical as opposed to instrumental approaches. Opening up the category of illness narrative to consider forms beyond literature, Illness as Many Narratives includes chapters on photography, artists’ books, performance art, film, theatre, animation and online narratives. The book examines different physical and mental illness experiences in both autobiographical and collaborative/relational narratives and offers new close readings of diverse works by Jo Spence, Sam Taylor-Wood, Martha A. Hall, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Wim Wenders, Lisa Kron and others. Approaching illness and its treatments as a multiplicity and situating them in relation to aesthetics, theory, radical pedagogy, politics and contemporary cultural concerns, Illness as Many Narratives demonstrates how bringing in diverse materials and engaging with multiple perspectives can help the arts, cultural studies and the medical humanities to establish critical conversations and amplify the goals and scope of their respective work.
