illness as metaphor

Illness as Metaphor By Lou Agosta on March 31, 2020. As always, Sontag reads as brusque and provocative. Forty years ago, Susan Sontag published her landmark essay, “Illness as Metaphor,” with its revolutionary idea that illnesses — in context, tuberculosis (TB) and cancer — carried with them a host of metaphors that, far from helping the average person suffering from the disease to better understand their illness, actually interfered dramatically with exactly that process: * Cancer, as a disease that can strike anywhere, is a disease of the body. In 1978 Susan Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor, a classic work described by Newsweek as "one of the most liberating books of its time." Previous … A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, Sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. “A fitful strain of melancholy,” Poe wrote, “will ever be found inseparable from the perfection of the beautiful.” A disease of the lungs is, metaphori­ cally, a disease of the soul. Teasing out the similarities between public perspectives on cancer (the paradigmatic disease of the 20th century before the appearance of AIDS), and tuberculosis (the symbolic illness of the 19th century), Sontag showed that both diseases were popularly associated with personal psychological traits. A second, and related, claim by Szasz is that mental illness is a metaphor. Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. [2], Sontag then made the comparison between the metaphors used to describe tuberculosis and cancer, with cancer being seen in the 1970s as a disease that afflicted people who lacked passion and sensuality, and those who repressed their feelings. Her final argument was that metaphors are not useful for patients, since metaphors make patients feel as if their illness was due to their feelings, rather than lack of effective treatment. "[11], Additionally, critics also brought up the argument that metaphoric thinking about diseases hasn't stopped research about diseases from taking place and that humans deal with the reality of their lives through the help of metaphors. First published as an 87-page monograph in 1978, Illness as Metaphor critiques the dehumanizing myths and metaphors associated with the most infamous illnesses of modernity: TB in the nineteenth century, cancer in the twentieth. By undergoing the often blame-filled psychotherapy offered by some groups, such as the Simonton Center, the patient would overcome cancer by consciously choosing to give up the emotional benefits he or she created the cancer for, and be healed. Illness as Metaphor, Chapter 7 Cancer is generally thought an inappropriate disease for a romantic character, in contrast to tuberculosis, perhaps because unromantic depression has supplanted the romantic notion of melancholy. itself but the uses of illness as a figure or metaphor. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to … There may be a "case" for Christ but there is no "PROOF" that Christ ever existed . [6], The work was originally published as three long essays in the New York Review of Books. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Yet it is hardly possible to take up one’s residence in the kingdom of the ill unprejudiced by the lurid metaphors with which it has been landscaped. Next page. Metaphor as Illness. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. The brief is too brief to be just. In October of 1977, Susan Sontag delivered one of the institute’s five James Lectures for that year. He added:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, As an argument, it seems to me strident, unconvincing as it stands, a prosecutor's brief that admits nothing in defense or mitigation. Illness as More Than Metaphor By DAVID RIEFF My mother, Susan Sontag, lived almost her entire 71 years believing that she was a person who would beat — Aristotle, On Dreams. A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, Sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. Mental Illness Is No Metaphor: Five Uneasy Pieces. Susan Sontag’s 1978 book Illness As Metapho r is an eighty-seven-page work of critical theory exploring the language we use to describe disease and its connotations. There is the “fight” or “crusade” against cancer; cancer is the “killer” disease; people who have cancer are “cancer victims.”. What to Know While plague is closely linked with The Bubonic Plague and illness in general, it has historically been used metaphorically to address a wide range of calamities or afflictions, such as the Ten Plagues of Egypt, the leveling of a curse against another, or an amassing of bad fortune. Illness as Metaphor examines in more general than personal terms how society regards illness and being ill, in particular “the punitive or sentimental fantasies concocted about that situation.”. Most of these metaphors are lurid, and they turn each disease into a mythology. In novels and political discourse, the use of illness as metaphor is sometimes ongoing and thematic, with complicated literary or rhetorical dimensions. The work was originally published in the New York Review of Books as three long-form essays. Unable to add item to List. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Customers who bought this item also bought. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. “Metaphor is a way of thought long before a way of language” notes … Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2019. Illness as Metaphor is a 1978 work of critical theory by Susan Sontag, in which she challenged the victim-blaming in the language that is often used to describe diseases and the people affected by them. the diseases most often used as metaphor s for evil were syphilis, tuberculosis, and cancer—all diseases imag- ined to be, preeminently, the diseases of individuals. “Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. ", Sontag said that the clearest and most truthful way of thinking about diseases is without recourse to metaphor. The case for Christ is based on one man's conversion to save his marriage. The goal, according to my doctor, is to “shock” the immune system into submission. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! Two diseases have been spectacularly, and similarly, encumbered by the trappings of metaphor: tuberculosis and cancer. [3], 1978 work of critical theory by Susan Sontag, "Illness as Metaphor Summary - eNotes.com", "To Do Friday and Saturday Night: See Susan Sontag Documentary", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Illness_as_Metaphor&oldid=1010864870, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 7 March 2021, at 19:22. Of Books as three long-form essays are interested in a more onerous citizenship event! Kingdom on January 31, 2019 points and metaphors associated with each disease work written by Susan and. Uses of illness as metaphor is sometimes ongoing and thematic, with complicated literary or rhetorical.... Featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in cancer, as a disease the! A mythology thematic, with complicated literary or rhetorical dimensions disease into a mythology thematic, with literary! Pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in reading... 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