Embodied consciousness in non-fiction illness narratives : a phenomenological-sociological approach.

EMBODIED CONSCIOUSNESS IN NON-FICTION ILLNESS NARRATIVES: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Kathryn A. Jacobi November 17,2011 This dissertation uses a phenomenological and sociological lens to explore how non-fiction illness narratives help us understand how perception of the self is disrupted because of serious illness or injury. Specifically, I use the French philosopher, M. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological thought concerning the body and the sociological perspective of medical sociologist, Arthur Frank and his types of narratives and how culture helps construct illness. I analyze the works of four different writers: Sarah Manguso, Oliver Sacks, Jean Dominique-Bauby, and Anatole Broyard. Chapter one serves as an introduction to the subject of illness writing and an overview of some of the material published during t~e past several decades. I discuss some of the functions of illness writing and summarize Frank's narrative types as well as explain some of the theories of Merleau-Ponty which are relevant to this study. In chapter two I analyze Sarah Manguso' s The Two Kinds of Decay