Fictions of Dementia
Narrative Modes of Presenting Dementia in Anglophone Novels
- 539 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Fictions of Dementia
Narrative Modes of Presenting Dementia in Anglophone Novels
About This Book
Taking its cues from both classical and post-classical narratologies, this study explores both forms and functions of the representation of dementia in Anglophone fictions. Initially, dementia is conceptualised as a narrative-epistemological paradox: The more those affected know what it is like to have dementia, the less they can tell about it. Narrative fiction is the only discourse that provides an imaginative glimpse at the subjective experience of dementia in language. The narratological modelling of four 'narrative modes' elaborates how the paradox becomes productive in fiction: Depending on the narrative perspective taken, but also on the type of narration, the technique for representing consciousness and the epistemic strategy of narrating dementia, the respective narrative modes come with different prerequisites and possibilities for narrating dementia. The analysis of four contemporary Anglophone dementia fictions based on the developed model reveals their potential functions: Fiction allows readers to learn about the challenges of dementia, grants them perspective-taking, it trains cognitive flexibility, and explores the meaning of memory, knowledge, narrative and imagination, and thus also offers trajectories of a cultural coping with dementia.
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Table of contents
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Sigla
- 1âIntroduction: Cultural and Literary Fictions of Dementia
- 2âNarrative Modes for the Representation of Dementia
- 3âElucidating-explaining Dementia, Showing Family Relations, and Highlighting the Power of Ambiguity in Self-Narrated Dementia in Emma Healeyâs Elizabeth Is Missing (2014)
- 4âShowing Caring and Coping, Exploring the Limits of Memory and Knowledge, and Celebrating Imagination in the Secondarily Affected Character Narration in Stefan Merrill Blockâs The Story of Forgetting (2008)
- 5âProbing Character Proximity, Staging Indeterminacy and Reflecting upon Narrative in the Multi-perspectival Affected Character Narration in Naomi Krugerâs May (2018)
- 6âIntegrating Medical Knowledge, Educating Readers, and Shedding a More Positive Light on Life with Dementia in the Inspective Non-Character Narration in Lisa Genovaâs Still Alice (2007)
- 7âResults of the Textual Analyses in the Light of the Model of Narrative Modes and Three Hypotheses on Functions
- 8âConclusion: Cultural Functions of Dementia Fictions
- Index