Oneself as Another: Intersubjectivity and Ethics in Alzheimer’s Illness Narratives

Authors

  • Lucy Burke <em>Manchester Metropolitan University</em>

Abstract

This paper considers what is at stake in telling the story of another’s illness and in taking on the history of another’s dementia as part of one’s own life narrative. Through a close analysis of Michael Ignatieff’s Scar Tissue, it explores the ways in which writing about the experience of caring for a parent with dementia speaks to the intersubjective dimensions of selfhood but also complicates the ways in which the very concept of intersubjectivity is often evoked within scholarship on personhood. It argues that an engagement with this kind of narrative is illuminating in this context because it exposes some of the emotional, memorial, and ethical difficulties that attend the experience of writing for and about another person when he or she is no longer able to do so.

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Published

2014-09-05

How to Cite

Burke, L. (2014). Oneself as Another: Intersubjectivity and Ethics in Alzheimer’s Illness Narratives . Narrative Works, 4(2). Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NW/article/view/22781

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2014)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright for articles published in Narrative Works is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to Narrative Works. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.