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19 pages, 315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“And What If You Can’t Forget It? … What If It Stays in Your Head, Repeating Itself … ?”: Reading Chuck Palahniuk’s Horror Trilogy (Lullaby, Diary, and Haunted) for Obsessions and Compulsions

by Steve Van-Hagen

Humanities 2024, 13(5), 115; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13050115 - 11 Sep 2024

Viewed by 415

Abstract

This essay argues that one of the distinguishing characteristics of Chuck Palahniuk’s self-described “Horror Trilogy” of novels, Lullaby, Diary, and Haunted, is their representation of obsessions, compulsions, and obsessive–compulsive disorders. This essay analyses these representations from a variety of different [...] Read more.

This essay argues that one of the distinguishing characteristics of Chuck Palahniuk’s self-described “Horror Trilogy” of novels, Lullaby, Diary, and Haunted, is their representation of obsessions, compulsions, and obsessive–compulsive disorders. This essay analyses these representations from a variety of different perspectives, including medical and psychiatric approaches, clinical and self-help narratives, and biocultural readings emanating from cultural history and critical disability studies. It is demonstrated that the novels reflect a range of the debates that arise from these competing approaches, and the points of similarity and difference in the readings produced are identified. Palahniuk’s representations, it is suggested, must be seen in the contexts of a number of his recurrent thematic preoccupations, and of his engagement with existential comedy. Ultimately, this essay suggests that Palahniuk’s representations of obsessions, compulsions, and OCD must be seen as multi-faceted and protean, as befitting the awareness of the complicated current debates about their conceptualisation that the novels display. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

11 pages, 248 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Except for This Hysteria, She Is the Perfect Woman”: Women and Hysteria in An Inconvenient Wife

by Nina Marie Voigt

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040100 - 25 Jul 2024

Viewed by 459

Abstract

Historical fiction can be understood as a hybrid space: it represents the past and simultaneously allows a consideration of the culture it is written in. Under the assumption that novels help address cultural shifts and attitudes, this paper aims to investigate how, why, [...] Read more.

Historical fiction can be understood as a hybrid space: it represents the past and simultaneously allows a consideration of the culture it is written in. Under the assumption that novels help address cultural shifts and attitudes, this paper aims to investigate how, why, and with what implications medical discourses surrounding women are depicted in fiction. This paper explores the manifold conceptualizations of hysteria in An Inconvenient Wife written by Megan Chance in 1998, arguing that the novel presents a complex view of discourses of medicalization. Its central claim is that the novel constructs hysteria not only as a tool of oppression but also as a tool with which to escape social constraints and patriarchal control. Through understanding historical fiction as not merely commenting on the past, but as addressing contemporary issues, the text adds to discussions centering on intersections of medicine and literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

13 pages, 433 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“From out the Portals of My Brain”: William Blake’s Partus Mentis and Imaginative Regeneration

by Annalisa Volpone

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040099 - 23 Jul 2024

Viewed by 516

Abstract

Partus mentis (the parturition of the mind) brings together the following two significant aspects of Romantic culture and ideology: the exploration into human generation, and the process of how imagination forms an idea and makes the mind creatively productive. This article suggests that [...] Read more.

Partus mentis (the parturition of the mind) brings together the following two significant aspects of Romantic culture and ideology: the exploration into human generation, and the process of how imagination forms an idea and makes the mind creatively productive. This article suggests that analyzing William Blake’s portrayal of imagination through the partus mentis trope can enhance our comprehension of how he illustrates and employs this faculty in his works. In Blake’s partus mentis, the analogy between the brain and the womb is pivotal. The brain is seen as a host for ideas that are conceived through imagination, and once they are brought to life, they become art. This is a vital component of Blake’s cosmogony, tying into his personal reinterpretation of biblical Genesis and his concept of the Human Form Divine. It also includes his response to medical theories and practises regarding generation and life. This article pays close attention to the medico-cultural discourse that was contemporary to Blake, and its wide use of the ‘analogy’, which defined the episteme of the long eighteenth century. The analogy approach was later challenged by the ‘epistemology of the visual’, which emphasized the use of anatomical atlases, wax models, and dissections for direct experiential insights into bodily functions and processes, particularly of the brain and the womb. This article argues that Blake is able to transcend these two epistemologies while harnessing specific elements from each. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

12 pages, 229 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Lady on the Sofa: Revisiting Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Illness

by Isadora Quirarte-Ruvalcaba

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040094 - 17 Jul 2024

Viewed by 855

Abstract

If there is one poet who has been widely represented under a legendary light, it is Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), mostly through the figure of a secluded invalid. Barrett Browning’s illness and death have been romanticised ever since her own time, with multiple [...] Read more.

If there is one poet who has been widely represented under a legendary light, it is Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), mostly through the figure of a secluded invalid. Barrett Browning’s illness and death have been romanticised ever since her own time, with multiple rumours and theories mostly focusing on the fact that her illness was ‘miraculously dispelled’ by ‘love’ and only reappeared gradually to take the poet’s life. This article proposes yet another and quite different diagnosis for Barrett Browning’s illness, theorising on the possibility that Barrett Browning’s ailment was a pulmonary congenital malformation, which remained misdiagnosed due to the lack of medical technology at the time. Several of the diagnoses given to Barrett Browning by her medical practitioners, contemporary and posthumous biographers and other scholars are presented and compared, alongside my own hypothesis. In addition, Barrett Browning’s arguable morphine dependency is reassessed in order to explore its impact on her illness, with the possibility that it exacerbated or even caused some of her symptoms. This reassessment also explores the role that morphine played in Barrett Browning’s death, suggesting an accidental overdose possibly overlooked by Robert Browning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

11 pages, 1756 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘Frail Warrior’: Stevenson as Manly Invalid at Saranac Lake

by Christy Rieger

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040093 - 17 Jul 2024

Viewed by 448

Abstract

Although “frail warrior” appears a contradiction in terms, the epithet captures how Robert Louis Stevenson’s admirers sought to reconcile a late-nineteenth-century ideal of physical manliness with the reality of the adventure writer’s debilitating illness. This construction of the writer’s public image is evident [...] Read more.

Although “frail warrior” appears a contradiction in terms, the epithet captures how Robert Louis Stevenson’s admirers sought to reconcile a late-nineteenth-century ideal of physical manliness with the reality of the adventure writer’s debilitating illness. This construction of the writer’s public image is evident in accounts of his stay at the Saranac Lake, NY, tuberculosis sanatorium during the frigid winter of 1887–1888. The institution’s distinctive wilderness setting for medical treatment enabled a heroic model of disabled masculinity, one that is framed by American national identity. This archetype informs the author’s posthumous reputation and shows how gender and nationality shape metaphoric thinking about illness and authorship. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

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11 pages, 230 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Aesthetics of Care: Caring for the Mother with Chantal Akerman

by Tingting Hui

Humanities 2024, 13(3), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13030079 - 22 May 2024

Viewed by 619

Abstract

Caring for the other is an ethical as well as an aesthetic question: but where does one end and where does the other begin? Rita Charon, in her work Narrative Medicine (2006), builds a strong case against such separation in medical care, or [...] Read more.

Caring for the other is an ethical as well as an aesthetic question: but where does one end and where does the other begin? Rita Charon, in her work Narrative Medicine (2006), builds a strong case against such separation in medical care, or more precisely, against the negligence of what she calls “narrative competence”—defined as the ability to absorb, interpret, and translate stories of others. Charon compares the work of health professionals to that of a skilled translator, who reads not only words but also silences and metaphors. While Charon focuses primarily on developing the concept of care as aesthetic experience for health professionals, Yuriko Saito’s recent publication Aesthetics of Care (2022) draws a parallel between care ethics in general and aesthetic experience. Both, according to Saito, share the same attitudes such as open-mindedness, receptivity, respect, and collaborative spirit. In this paper, I will discuss the concept of care in Belgian film director Chantal Akerman’s later works: My Mother Laughs (2019) and No Home Movie (2015). Through different media—the former being a memoir and the latter a documentary—Akerman cares for her mother and bears witness to the end of her mother’s life. Taking cues from Charon and Saito, I argue that both media are media of care: they are aesthetic means of bearing witness to illness, trauma, love, and care. Especially through filmmaking, Akerman seems to have achieved the impossible: that is, the desire of the daughter not to take her eyes off her dying mother and look at her eternally. Such desire is also expressed in her film aesthetics: the long take inscribes a waiting becoming infinite; it is as if the movie, or the motion picture, is exposed to both a slow death and a passage to eternity. At the same time, unlike Charon and Saito, who position the carer as an ideal reader and viewer, I argue that Akerman as the carer is by no means perfect: her memoir offers a detailed account of her need to keep a distance and hide from her mother, and of her mother’s complaint about Akerman not sharing her life with her. Distance is what Akerman struggles with regarding her relation to her mother, and she struggles with it through writing and filming. In Akerman’s case, the ability to achieve the impossible with aesthetic media lies precisely in mediation and mediality: they enable a relation of care that is close, yet still maintains a safe distance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

14 pages, 261 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Sick Body Writing: Towards an Affective Genetic Criticism

by Emily Bell and Andrea Davidson

Humanities 2024, 13(3), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13030073 - 9 May 2024

Viewed by 962

Abstract

The Sick Body Writing: Towards an Affective Genetic Criticism examines the idea that manuscripts can be affected by illness as much as their authors’ bodies are. This article aims to highlight a critical gap in the methodology of literary genetic criticism by introducing [...] Read more.

The Sick Body Writing: Towards an Affective Genetic Criticism examines the idea that manuscripts can be affected by illness as much as their authors’ bodies are. This article aims to highlight a critical gap in the methodology of literary genetic criticism by introducing a new lens of affective genetic criticism. Genetic criticism looks at the archive of drafts and notes related to a literary work-in-progress. The application of affect theory brings focus to the impacts of the author’s bodily experience during writing while in different states of un/healthiness. The effects of authors’ health on their writing, especially textual non/production and the representations of un/healthiness, can be found in their archive in a variety of forms, whether represented in the narrative or responsible for elements of the narrative’s structure. Using two case studies from different literary canons, James Joyce (modernist) and Aidan Chambers (children’s and Young Adult), the article concludes that this lens can be productively applied to understand better the embodiment of writing processes and adaptations of writing environments as a result of affective needs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

13 pages, 256 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Early Images of Trauma in George Eliot’s The Lifted Veil

by Melissa Rampelli

Humanities 2024, 13(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13030070 - 2 May 2024

Viewed by 1106

Abstract

This paper explores George Eliot’s The Lifted Veil (1859) as an early portrayal of traumatic neurosis, providing a fresh perspective to enhance the existing scholarly attention on trauma in Eliot’s Daniel Deronda. To illustrate potential contemporary diagnoses for Latimer, I examine other [...] Read more.

This paper explores George Eliot’s The Lifted Veil (1859) as an early portrayal of traumatic neurosis, providing a fresh perspective to enhance the existing scholarly attention on trauma in Eliot’s Daniel Deronda. To illustrate potential contemporary diagnoses for Latimer, I examine other prevalent mid-nineteenth-century models of mental pathology, including phrenology, mesmerism, and hemispheric brain disunity. Drawing on Pierre Janet’s trauma theories from the late nineteenth century, I argue that Eliot presents an early portrayal of dissociative trauma through Latimer’s psychological experiences. Latimer’s visions, complex dream-like interactions, and involuntary consciousness splitting provide a framework for understanding dissociation in response to his emotionally traumatic loss of his mother. Eliot’s exploration of dissociation anticipates Pierre Janet’s theories, which underpin contemporary understandings of trauma, revealing a remarkable modernity in Eliot’s approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

14 pages, 230 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Parallel Narratives: Trauma, Relationality, and Dissociation in Psychoanalysis and Realist Fiction

by Mona Becker and C. Christina Sjöström

Humanities 2024, 13(3), 69; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13030069 - 1 May 2024

Viewed by 1069

Abstract

The reciprocal relationship between cultural trauma studies and psychoanalytic discourse on the one hand, and trauma studies and fictional representations of trauma on the other, has been commented on by scholars within the field of literary studies. What connects the representation of trauma [...] Read more.

The reciprocal relationship between cultural trauma studies and psychoanalytic discourse on the one hand, and trauma studies and fictional representations of trauma on the other, has been commented on by scholars within the field of literary studies. What connects the representation of trauma in cultural trauma theory, trauma fiction, and psychoanalysis is that it is regarded as something that overwhelms an individual’s capacities for processing and functioning. However, while cultural trauma theory has come under scrutiny for prioritizing too narrow a view of trauma and its representations, the considerable critiques of and revisions to Freud’s theories, developed in the 1980/90s, have been mostly ignored by cultural trauma theorists. In this interdisciplinary article, we draw on relational psychoanalytic perspectives to demonstrate how relational revisions to psychoanalytic theory and techniques, as well as views on dissociation, can offer new perspectives for approaching literary works of fiction, such as the realist novel, which engage with the subject of trauma outside of established trauma conventions. We demonstrate that trauma novels by Lisa Appignanesi and Aminatta Forna parallel these revisions to psychoanalytic theory and techniques, allowing for a more pluralistic and nuanced representation of responses to trauma and suffering. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

15 pages, 293 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Place to Meet: Community and Companionship in the Magazine of the London School of Medicine for Women, 1895–1905

by Mary Chapman

Humanities 2024, 13(2), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13020057 - 27 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1088

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, British women were able to qualify as medical doctors and enter professional practice for the first time. However, they often remained excluded from the specialist journals which were crucial for knowledge exchange during this period. As [...] Read more.

At the turn of the twentieth century, British women were able to qualify as medical doctors and enter professional practice for the first time. However, they often remained excluded from the specialist journals which were crucial for knowledge exchange during this period. As a result, they formed several of their own periodicals, including the Magazine of the London School of Medicine for Women (1895–1947), which this paper discusses. Significantly, the Magazine not only provided female doctors with the opportunity for intellectual communication, but social interaction too. This paper will explore how the periodical regularly published community-building content, which emphasised friendship as a key component of female doctors’ relationships. The Magazine encouraged the sharing of humour, stories, and intimate news which both articulated and generated companionship amongst subscribers. Through this content, the Magazine wove professional connections into personal bonds, telling a story of medical sisterhood and offering a welcoming textual meeting place to a disparate network of female doctors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

15 pages, 1239 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Familiar Strangers in the Shrouded Forest: Stigma, Representation and Alzheimer’s Disease in Always

by Andrew Phillip Young

Humanities 2023, 12(5), 121; https://doi.org/10.3390/h12050121 - 17 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1511

Abstract

While literature and popular culture have sought to understand Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in terms framed by the loss of social relationships and the strain caregivers face, this arrangement articulates AD as “being lost”, a fragmentation of temporal experience, or as irrationality punctuated by [...] Read more.

While literature and popular culture have sought to understand Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in terms framed by the loss of social relationships and the strain caregivers face, this arrangement articulates AD as “being lost”, a fragmentation of temporal experience, or as irrationality punctuated by moments of self-awareness (which often operate to dehumanize those with AD). This analysis seeks, as Stefan Merrill Block puts it, to “stop looking for the lost person” in our encounter with AD. As a contemporary case study, the interactive experience Always functions as a critical intervention by not prizing moments of clarity as narrative catharsis (which literature and popular culture tend to do in the form of what is known as the “love miracle”). Instead, it serves as an important gesture toward destabilizing these practices and bridging the gap between the representation of AD and its realities. Rather than acting as a simulator of AD, Always is an abstract piece that, through design and game mechanics, opens a space for users to consider the implications of having their senses destabilized. As a result, this analysis considers how design addresses issues of social stigma, representation, storytelling and navigability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

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