| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Intro -- Half Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- About the Author -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Interdisciplinary Epidemics: Illness Narratives in American Literature, Disability Studies, and the Medical Humanities -- The History and Past Lives of Illness Life Writing -- The Future of Illness Narratives -- Terms -- Chapters -- Chapter 1: Yellow Fever: Early American Illness Narratives (or the Lack Thereof) -- Yellow Fever History: A Long-forgotten Peril -- Early American Life Writing: Yellow Fever and Other Illness Narratives |
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Privileged Voices: Doctor's Narratives -- Other Yellow Fever Accounts: The Unpublished -- Conclusion -- Chapter 2: "Pale Horse, Pale Rider": The Forgotten 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the Role of Literature in Illness Narratives -- Illness Narratives -- The 1918 Influenza Pandemic -- Reading "Pale Horse" as a Modernist Illness Narrative -- Disability and Illness in "Pale Horse" -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3: Mid-twentieth Century Polio Memoirs: The Beginnings of an Old Genre* -- The Quest Narrative and Polio's Link to Early American Life Writing -- The Importance of Polio Narratives |
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My Place to Stand and Small Steps -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4: The Chronically Ill and Stigmatized Body: HIV and AIDS -- Celebrity Illness -- Days of Grace -- Interdisciplinary Connections -- Crip Theory and Critical Race Theory -- HIV, Chronic Illness, and the Disability/Illness Divide -- Chapter 5: "Fear-bola": Constructions of Contagion -- Ebola: A Brief History -- Illness Narratives as Fact: Richard Preston and the Misinformation Crisis -- Disease and Disability: Modern-Day Freak Shows and Ebola -- Conclusion: The Future of the Fields and of Twenty-first-century Illness Narratives |
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Social Media: A New Form of Storytelling -- Social Media as Illness Narratives -- Social Media and Epidemics -- Social Media Illness Narratives and the Future of the Fields -- Conclusion -- References -- Further Reading List -- Index |
| Summary |
American Life Writing and the Medical Humanities: Writing Contagion bridges a gap in the market by linking the medical humanities with disability studies. It examines how Americans have used life writing to record epidemic disease throughout history. Starting in the late 1800s with Yellow Fever and ending with the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreaks, the author tracks how American life writing changed literature, history, and medicine. Although the illness narrative genre became more popular in the mid-20th century, Americans have been writing illness narratives throughout American history. Writing Contagionfocuses on American epidemics to see how these outbreaks spurred Americans into telling their stories. Looking at book-length narratives of illness and disability, the author traces the development and lineage of illness narratives from early American nonfiction writing, to literary modernism and to contemporary memoir. Viewing illness narratives as intensely interdisciplinary, the author argues that to understand both the importance and influence of this genre within American literature, illness narratives need to be read through literary, disability studies, and medical humanities frameworks to challenge ableist assumptions and demonstrate how illness narratives are of both historical and literary importance in America |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 21, 2020) |
| Subject |
Autobiography.
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Epidemics in literature.
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Epidemics -- History
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Medical writing.
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autobiography (genre)
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Memoirs.
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Biography & autobiography -- General.
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Autobiography
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Epidemics
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Epidemics in literature
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Medical writing
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781839096723 |
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1839096721 |
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9781839096747 |
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1839096748 |
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