Metaphor in Illness Writing
Anita Wohlmann
Abstract
Defends conventional and even problematic illness metaphors by emphasizing their varied usability Offers a more capacious understanding of metaphors by considering the varied, unpredictable, and surprising usability of metaphors Uses a doubled approach to metaphors that is grounded in metaphor theory and narrative theory in order to illustrate the nuanced and complex ways in which even problematic metaphors can be engaged with Identifies the distinct strategies that prominent writers use when they actively and creatively engage with metaphors Makes a contribution to research at the boundaries of metaphor theory and narrative theory by analysing how metaphor and narrative intersect and interact with one another Metaphor in Illness Writing argues that even when a metaphor appears problematic and limiting, it need not be dropped or dismissed. Metaphors are not inherently harmful or beneficial; instead, they can be used in unexpected and creative ways. This book analyses the illness writing of contemporary North American writers who reimagine and reappropriate the supposedly harmful metaphor 'illness is a fight' and shows how Susan Sontag, Audre Lorde, Anatole Broyard, David Foster Wallace and other writers turn the fight metaphor into a space of agency, resistance, self-knowledge and aesthetic pleasure. It joins a conversation in Medical Humanities about alternatives to the predominance of narrative and responds to the call for more metaphor literacy and metaphor competence.