I have just finished reading The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics by Arthur W. Frank. This is a new addition to the Healing Touch library at Knox United Church. It is the second book by Arthur Frank I have read this year. His first book, At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness, was written after three years of being a patient. He received heart surgery and two years of treatment for testicular cancer. Arthur Frank is a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary, so was formerly on the other side of treatment. His first book describes the sometimes dehumanizing aspect of medical treatment, providing welcome insight into the desires of the patient. Treatment is not just about a cure; it’s about being treated as a whole person. Each patient has a complicated story and personal desires, and is not simply a case for diagnosis. S/he is definitely not just the disease.
In this second book, Frank invites those afflicted by illness to tell their stories. He describes different types of narrative which the interruption of illness may produce: restitution (where the story ends in a cure), chaos (where the plot line remains chaotic and unresolved) and narrative ethics (where the person shares his bodily experience in order to heal and to teach others about health). This aspect guides the ill person toward ‘a good death’, which is the end of all our individual maps. Illness forces one to redraw the map and destination of his/her life. Reflection on the body’s experiences brings each of us to greater consciousness of our Self and of the inter-human and supra-human realm.
Frank writes “To tell any story of suffering is to claim some relation to the inter-human. Any testimony is a response to the half-opening of nameless suffering” (p. 180)…”The wounded, spiritual body-self exists in moments of immanence. Humans are not alone, even if being with God is a process of resistance, contest and wound.” (p. 181)…”For wounded storytellers, the return from illness brings the responsibility to teach others so that not only sick people can ‘know what health is’ ” (p.182).
I found this book heavy reading at times because its academic style deals with abstractions and generalities. A few anecdotes illustrate Frank’s themes very effectively. On every page are gems of wisdom that guide as well as inform. For anyone involved in healing, whether as patient or healer, this book reframes illness and suffering in essential truths. It presents a big picture with a sweeping focus that places the lens on all aspects of illness and healing. I recommend it for all those who are ill, or who live and work with ill people.
Good review! Thanks!