Medical humanism in the poetry of Raymond Carver.

Full Abstract

There is an analogy between a scientific approach to medicine in which the patient ultimately becomes an object of study rather than a whole person, and a post/modern aesthetic in literature in which the subject has little or no agency in a chaotic linguistic universe. Raymond Carver died of cancer in 1988, and in both his pre- and post-diagnostic poetry there is humanistic lyricism that contributes to re-establishing empathic bonds between readers and characters, and to re-humanizing the patient as a whole person in the context of contemporary health institutions. Close readings of poems with descriptions of the autopsy room and of patient-doctor relations bring out the medical humanism in Carver's verse.

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Author information

Author/s: Kleppe, Sandra Lee (SL);

Affiliation: Department of English, Humanities Faculty, University of Tromsoe, 9037, Tromso, Norway. Sandra.Lee.Kleppe(-atsign-)hum.uit.no

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Biography; Historical Article; Journal Article

Journal: The Journal of medical humanities (J Med Humanit), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-; vol 27 (issue 1) : pp 39-55

Dates: Created 2006/05/01; Completed 2006/07/06; Revised 2008/11/21;

PMID: 16575544, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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