Into the Land of Wonder: The Narrative Life of Dying Neural Cells in Dementia Stories

Autori/Autrici

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54103/2035-7680/27240

Parole chiave:

wonder; dementia stories; narrative psychiatry; Mariangela Gualteri; Jonathan Franzen; John Bayley

Abstract

This paper aims at engaging in dialogue with diverse perspectives on neuropathology by examining the intersections between biopsychiatric and narrative portrayals of dementia. Firstly, we investigate how neurocognitive disorder is depicted in narrative form (in prose and verse), emphasising the significance of “narrative brain scans” as sites of intersubjective exploration of this complex experience. Secondly, we emphasise the unique potential of dementia narratives in prompting contemplation of whether the disruption of consciousness can be questioned through imagination and storytelling. Ultimately, narratives of dementia serve to practice wonder and not knowing (Candiani), and challenge reductionist boundaries between life and death, presence and absence of consciousness. Employing Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) as a narrative framework, this paper embarks on a journey in search of wonder within narratives by Mariangela Gualtieri, Jonathan Franzen, and John Bayley, depicting progressive cognitive decline.

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Biografia autore/autrice

Maria Micaela Coppola, University of Trento

Maria Micaela Coppola is associate professor of English Literature at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science of Università degli Studi di Trento (Italy). She has published on 20th-century and contemporary women writers in English, lesbian literature, and feminist cultural periodicals. Her most recent publications are on fictional accounts of dementia syndrome, the psychological humanities, and narrative medicine. She is co-coordinator of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies and director of the Language Centre of Università degli Studi di Trento.

Riferimenti bibliografici

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Pubblicato

2024-11-30

Come citare

Coppola, Maria Micaela. 2024. «Into the Land of Wonder: The Narrative Life of Dying Neural Cells in Dementia Stories». Altre Modernità, n. 32 (novembre):1-16. https://doi.org/10.54103/2035-7680/27240.