Gender Scripts in Medicine and Narrative

Product Description
Current research about gender in the medical humanities, and in particular, narrative medicine, intersects with theories of sexuality throughout the essays in
Gender Scripts in Medicine and Narrative. Gender stereotypes shape the way medicine is practiced and perceived. The chapters in this collection investigate gendered perceptions and representations of medical practitioners and patients in fiction, memoir, poetry, film, television, the history of science, new media, and visual art. The fourteen chapters of
Gender Scripts in Medicine and Narrative investigate the impact of gender stereotypes on medical narratives from a variety of points of view, considering narratives from diverse languages, time periods, genres, and media. Each chapter addresses provocative issues in theories of gender and the medical humanities.
Gender Scripts in Medicine and Narrative is prefaced by Rita Charon, MD, PhD, Director and Founder of the Program in Narrative Medicine, Columbia University, with a foreword by Marcelline Block, and an introduction by Angela Laflen. This collection foregrounds an interdisciplinary perspective on gender in narrative medicine and literature.
Review
In light of current debates over healthcare, the volume could not be more timely. As a whole, it critiques the claim of the mimetic and objective, recognizes the instrumentality of representation, and examines definitions of normal and the stigmatization of disease and disfigurement. Individual essays work within interpretive models which puncture the myth of 'realism' and reveal reified realities; this critical context allows for interpreting the body as a contested site, delineates iconographic constructions which utilize strategies of containment, and shows the way in which narrative and visual representation often participates in the process of social training. These chapters underscore both the historical range and the geographical diversity of the volume. Each essay highlights the uniqueness of a specific historical moment, but also points towards the continuity of narrative and representational models and their interpretation across cultures. --Carl Fisher, Professor of Comparative Literature, Chair of Department, Comparative World Literature and Classics California State University Long Beach

The volume conjoins important new areas of study both in gender and medicine and in cultural studies of medicine. One of the great strengths of this volume is its historical as well as its disciplinary range from a consideration of Medieval art to contemporary television. The essays include treatments of the medical gaze in literary works as well as engagement with the literariness and visuality of medical publications (specifically, narrative, image, and language). The emphasis on gender gives this volume a tight, unifying focus. I am persuaded that it will have a broad audience among scholars across fields and disciplines and will be widely taught. --Professor Priscilla Wald, Professor of English and Women's Studies, Duke University

The volume conjoins important new areas of study both in gender and medicine and in cultural studies of medicine. One of the great strengths of this volume is its historical as well as its disciplinary range from a consideration of Medieval art to contemporary television. The essays include treatments of the medical gaze in literary works as well as engagement with the literariness and visuality of medical publications (specifically, narrative, image, and language). The emphasis on gender gives this volume a tight, unifying focus. I am persuaded that it will have a broad audience among scholars across fields and disciplines and will be widely taught. --Professor Priscilla Wald, Professor of English and Women's Studies, Duke University
About the Author
Angela Laflen is an Assistant Professor of English at Marist College. Her research focuses on contemporary literature, postmodernism, and visual