Autobiographical Documentary In America

This Is A Provocative Look At Writing By And About People With Illness Or Disability In Particular Hivaids, Breast Cancer, Deafness, And Paralysis Who Challenge The Stigmas Attached To Their Conditions By Telling Their Lives In Their Own Ways And On Their Own Terms. Discussing Memoirs, Diaries, Collaborative Narratives, Photo Documentaries, Essays, And Other Forms Of Life Writing, G. Thomas Couser Shows That These Books Are Not Primarily Records Of Medical Conditions; They Are A Means For Individuals To Recover Their Bodies (or Those Of Loved Ones) From Marginalization And Impersonal Medical Discourse.responding To The Recent Growth Of Illness And Disability Narratives In The United States Such Works As Juliet Wittman S Breast Cancer Journal, John Hockenberry S Moving Violations, Paul Monette S Borrowed Time: An Aids Memoir, And Lou Ann Walker S A Loss For Words: The Story Of Deafness In A Family Couser Addresses Questions Of Both Poetics And Politics.