City Research Online

Abstract

This dissertation examines the representation of dementia in fictional narratives, challenging the dominant portrayal of the illness as solely a ‘death of the self.’ It argues that literature, particularly non-realist genres, offers unique insights into the subjective experiences of people with dementia (PwD), moving beyond the familiar tropes of loss and decline.

By analysing four primary texts, J. Bernlef’s Out of Mind, Cees Nooteboom’s The Following Story, Georgi Gospodinov’s Time Shelter, and Natalie Erika James’s film, this project explores how authors and filmmakers employ literary and linguistic tools to depict temporal disorientation and self-estrangement, key symptoms of dementia. It aims to understand how the self-in-dementia is reimagined in these texts and how these representations reflect, expand, or transcend existing theories and paradigms of dementia and selfhood based on loss or decay.

This study uses a double-lens approach: analysing how fictional narratives critique dominant theories of dementia by reimagining the phenomenological experience, and how the portrayal of dementia in these narratives interrogates existing theories of selfhood. The project distinguishes between writing about dementia (external descriptions) and writing dementia (simulating the experience from within) and explores how fiction can provide a simulated encounter with an imagined consciousness. This dissertation seeks to contribute to a more nuanced and compassionate understanding of dementia, moving beyond stigmatising portrayals and fostering a more inclusive view of the self-in-dementia.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity > Department of Media, Culture & Creative Industries School of Communication & Creativity > School of Communication & Creativity Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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