Illness narratives

What is it about?

Medieval poets and doctors alike were aware of the need to place illness and pain into comprehensible narrative structures; they were also interested in the falsification inherent in narrativising. This paper focuses on Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Hoccleve, and John Arderne's interest in how we tell stories about being ill.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Patients and doctors have long been aware of the problems of different perspectives on and stories about the experience of being ill. Medieval texts help us to think about the relationship between literature and medicine through a focus on narrative. Telling stories is central to our humanity across time, even though those stories often seek to make sense out of the incomprehensible and have a problematic relationship with the reality of pain.