Illness as Many Narratives : : Arts, Medicine and Culture / / Stella Bolaki.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Complete eBook-Package 2016
• VerfasserIn: Bolaki, Stella,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) :; 12 B/W illustrations

Explores the aesthetic, ethical and cultural importance of contemporary representations of illness across different arts and mediaIllness 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 and instrumental 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.Approaching illness and its treatments as a multiplicity and situating them in relation to aesthetics, theory, radical pedagogy, politics and contemporary cultural concerns, Bolaki offers close readings of autobiographical and collaborative works across a wide range of arts and media. Through case studies on photography, artists' books, performance art, film, theatre, animation and online narratives, 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. Key FeaturesOpens up the category of illness narrative to consider a wide variety of media/artistic forms beyond literatureIntervenes in current debates in medical humanities/medical education by emphasising more critical as opposed to instrumental approachesExplores different physical and mental illness experiences in both autobiographical and collaborative/relational narrativesOffers new close readings of diverse works by Sam Taylor-Wood, Martha Hall, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Wim Wenders, Lisa Kron and others

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Illness as Many Narratives -- 1. Re-Covering Scarred Bodies: Reading Photography -- 2. Artists' Books in the Medical Community -- 3. Performance Medicine and Radical Pedagogy -- 4. Collaborative Film as Terminal Care -- 5. Messy Confrontations: Theatre and Expert Knowledge -- 6. Animated Documentary and Mental Health -- Afterword: #Illness -- Bibliography -- Index