Brody: Stories Of Sickness
Howard Brody has written a terrific book called Stories of Sickness. I am going to talk to you about some ideas in this book which I have found helpful in thinking about experiences of sickness--my own and others-- and in thinking about experiences of 'story',--as storytelling, as fiction and fact that I have read about in books. The point would be to have story and sickness reflect on each other to increase understanding of the human condition, maybe in a big way. This document may go on for a bit, so relax.One of the key ideas Brody introduces is how the ideas of sickness and respect go together. We know that sick people can lose the respect of others and can lose self-respect when disability keeps them performing their usual social duties like working and socializing. Think about that for a moment. A healthy person has an accident/contracts a disease, and then has to be pushed around in a wheelchair, has to be fed and toileted, and so on, loses status as an adult, and, being treated like a baby, that person gets the 'respect' or lack of accorded to a 'dependent' or 'useless' person. Can happen, and does: we all know the story-- we see it in the media all the time. Such a person can lose self-respect to the point of comm
Some topics in this essay:
Parkinsonism Alzheimer's, Oliver Sacks--some, Brody49 Self-respect, Metaphor Brody, Magic Mountain, James Hillman, DIMENSIONS SICKNESS, WHAT'S STORY, Cancer Ward, NY MacMillan, life plan, sick role, literature propogates, sick person, stories sickness, one's life, life story, telling story, personal identity, life plans, able tell story, rational life plan, one's life plan, peer review network, concept sick role,
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Approximate Word count = 7536
Approximate Pages = 30 (250 words per page double spaced)
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