Illness Consciousness In Susan Sontag's Writings

Susan Sontag(1933-2004),a well-known American writer,has gained such a reputation as "the Conscience of the American Public",and has been called "an inside outsider" by medicine world,because of her renowned collection of critical essays,Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors,which beyond all doubt is significant in the field of medical humanities.Apart from the insights on illness presented in Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors,there are still voluminous books including fictional works and nonfictions expressing Sontag's unique illness consciousness.Briefly speaking,her specificity of illness consciousness unfolds in the way that Sontag has the tendency to create metaphoric illnesses to imply the frustrating society in her fictional writings,while shows an antithetical view in her critic essays and keeps against metaphoric interpretations on illnesses.It is seemingly that Sontag's illness consciousness displays the total opposition in different literary genres,which makes her writing obscurer to understand.However,such paradoxical intricacy has indeed added glamour to Sontag's writings and consciousness.Taking Sontag's illness consciousness as the research target,this dissertation explores the complex and multiple origins of the consciousness,and evaluates different consciousness expressions in Sontag's fictional and nonfictional works.Besides,this dissertation shows an important way to argue the cultural influences and inspirational values emerging from Sontag's illness consciousness in her writings,which helps to make it clear that there's integral essence concealed in this seemingly paradoxical illness consciousness.This dissertation falls into five parts.The "Introduction" gives a brief account of Sontag's life and conducts a comprehensive study of researches on Sontag's works,and then points out that Sontag displays unique and intricate illness consciousness in her writings,which,however,is still inviting researchers to study.Therefore,this dissertation focuses on Sontag's mediation on "illness" via "engagement consciousness".Chapter One makes an investigation of multiple origins of Sontag's illness consciousness on the factual basis of Sontag's biographies,journals and notebooks.Through examining the influences coming from Sontag's literary icons,this chapter recognizes Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Mann's impacts on Sontag's self awareness of her interest in illness meditation since her childhood,and analyzes the constitutive roots of illness-centered consciousness in Sontag's writings from the angle of her inner link with Franz Kafka and Walter Benjamin through reading their works.In addition,by means of theoretical concepts of Arnold Van Gennep and Victor Turner's terms of "limen",this part explores Sontag's illness consciousness acquired from the experiences in her "limen" phases.Chapter One comes to a conclusion that Sontag frames her illness consciousness through literary edification and her life experience,which lead to its multiple origins,paradoxical intricacy as well as rationality.Such illness consciousness displays "enchantment"(symbolic writing about illnesses)in Sontag's fictional works and "disenchantment"(being against metaphoric interpretations on illnesses)in her critical essays.Chapter Two focuses on Sontag's fictional works.In view of the "cultural explanation pattern" on illnesses put forward by medical anthropology,this chapter explores the metaphoric implications and social symbols embodied in illness interpretations and patients' depiction in Sontag's fictional writings.This chapter categorizes the illnesses narrated in her novels,play scripts and short stories into three patterns,namely "bodily impairment,"emotional illness",and "psychiatric disorder".By taking the perspectives of concept of "Somatization" in medical anthropology,ethical literary criticism,notion of "Emotions" suggested by Hegel,and theory of"Uncanny" introduced by Freud,this chapter discusses "bodily impairment" in Sontag's play Alice in Bed and her short story "Baby",analyzes"emotional illness" in her novel The Volcano Lover and a script Brother Carl,and examines "psychiatric disorder" in the novel Death Kit and a short story "The Dummy".This chapter finds out that Sontag makes illnesses as the carrier of her consciousness in her literary construction,and intentionally attaches metaphoric interpretations in living status,ethic dilemma and epoch predicament to illnesses,which displays the fertile artistry in fictional writings,and conveys Sontag's concern for people's living.The illness consciousness in Sontag's fictional writings reveals her artistic life consciousness nourished in literary edification.Chapter Three focuses on Sontag's critical essays.By the aid of the concept,"disenchantment",claimed by Max Weber,this part discusses Sontag's disenchantment mission towards illness interpretations.In her influential essays,Sontag asserts that the "Camp",sensibility should be respected and regained,and keeps against metaphoric interpretations on illnesses.Besides,by talking about"Aesthetics of Silence",Sontag conducts a "Silent" project.These unfold two levels of Sontag's illness consciousness in essay writing.One is that Sontag attempts to keep patients from illness stigma,and calls on the public to get rid of the stigmatizing interpretations on illnesses and understand the natural state of being ill with real rationality.Sontag even dives deeper to clarify the next level.She argues that the intemperate scientific technology has already exercised so strict control of people that people are gradually deprived of whole sensibility and the awareness of finiteness in technology.Furthermore,Sontag points out that the present society which is overriding people's consciousness and sensation with authoritative discourse and technical management is the true malady.Therefore,in her critical essays,Sontag performs her disenchantment mission to cure corrupting society and bamboozled public,to fight against hegemony on public's consciousness,and to awaken and expand people's sensibility.This is an epochal spiritual rescue project advocated by Sontag via her essay writing,which conveys her salvation consciousness developed from her confrontation with frustrating reality and her engagment in cultural and social issues.In "Conclusion",this dissertation comes up with the finding that the dialectical unity of illness consciousness in Sontag's different writings witnesses its multiple origins and rich connotations.The way that she artistically creates symbolic enchantment of illnesses in her fictional writings echoes her fulfillment of intellectual responsibility in the form of disenchantment mission exercised in her nonfictional writings.Both of them reveal Sontag's resolution and morality to pursue a vigorously meaningful life and her persistence in redintegrating cognitive sensation.