Body & Soul: Narratives of Healing from Ars Medica

by Allison Crawford (Editor), Rex Kay (Editor), Allan D. Peterkin (Editor), Robin Roger (Editor), Ronald Ruskin (Editor)

Overview

Illness affects us all; we are called on to support and care for loved ones who face health challenges, and in turn, we encounter our own physical and emotional frailties when our health declines. Body & Soul features inspiring and award-winning fiction, essays, memoirs, poetry, photography, and visual art on the universal themes of wellness, treatment, and healing.

Told from the points of view of patients, practitioners, caregivers, families, and friends, Body & Soul provides a powerful literary perspective on how we are challenged, bewildered, changed, and uplifted by our encounters with change, illness, and disease. Readers will appreciate the richness, depth, and diversity of these healing stories and will become motivated to generate and share their own transformative narratives.

Together with the online discussion guide (providing questions relating to selected pieces in the anthology), Body & Soul is an ideal text for courses and support groups as well as individual reflection. Students and practitioners from all clinical disciplines and scholars in the humanities and social sciences will find this text invaluable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442696075
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	11/26/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Aliison Crawford is a founding editor of Ars Medica.
Rex Kay is a founding editor of Ars Medica.
Allan D. Peterkin is a professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Toronto, where he heads the Program in Health, Arts and Humanities.

Robin Rogers is a founding editor of Ars Medica.
Ronald Ruskin is a founding editor of Ars Medica.
Aaron Orkin is an associate editor at Ars Medica.

Table of Contents

Contents

Users Guide

General Introduction

Part 1: Patients
Introduction to Part 1
1 As One Might Expect
William Bradley
2 Hands: A Suite of Stories
Linda E. Clarke
3 Prenatal Exam
Sarah Cross
4 Sunday Nights at the Shangri-La
Cindy Dale
5 A Picture Made of Sound
Anne Elliott
6 Centre of Dread
Faye George
7 At Thirteen, Asthmatic / Medicine Pudding / First Day Home from the Hospital
John Grey
8 Daughter Cells
Jessica Handler
9 BSE
Alison Hauch
10 Things Taken
Isabel Hoskins
11 Pain Scale
Paul Hostovsky
12 Seeing the Heart
Catherine Jagoe
13 Matter and Energy
Lorie Kolak
14 My Little Heart Attack
Tom Lombardo
15 The Eighth Day
Michael C. McConnell
16 Life Study
Helen McLean
17 Second Sight
Helen McLean
18 Lethargy, Resulting from the Sudden Extinction of Light / Swallows
Mary O'Donoghue
19 On the Loss and Reconstruction of a Self
Menorah Lafayette-Lebovics Rotenberg
20 The Cure of Metaphor
Kenneth Sherman
21 Kasabach-Merrit Syndrome
Heather Spears
22 Inadequacy of Impotence
George J. Stevenson
23 Diabetes: My Body Says "Fall"
Heather L. Stuckey
24 Care for the Patient
Yvonne Trainer
25 I, Michael
Christopher Willard

Part 2: Family and Friends
Introduction to Part 2
26 Drawing Insulin
Anonymous
27 Days and Nights in the NICU
Christine Benvenuto
28 Eden and I Are Playing Go Fish
Susie Berg
29 Palliation
Pat Cason
30 All Out of Funny in Crystal Lake, California
Stephan Clark
31 911
Diane Foley
32 Stoma
Kathy Giorgio
33 Unpacking My Daughter's Library
Joan Givner
34 My Father's Polio
Patricia F. Goldblatt
35 Lie Down 176
Katherine Govier
36 Friendship Bracelets
Jon Hunter
37 Hope from a Distance
Nigel Leaney
38 Something Happened
Jane Martin
39 The Right Thing to Say
Kathy Page
40 Second Round
Nancy Richler
41 On Different Hospital Floors
Nicholas Samaras
42 The Alzheimer's Man
Alan Steinberg
43 The Second Parlour
Anne Marie Todkill
44 The Wong-Baker Scale
Gina P. Vozenilek
45 Denial
Gina Wilch and Ruby Roy

Part 3: Practitioners
Introduction to Part 3
46 Accident Room
Jay Baruch
47 Tale of a T-Shirt
Susan Croft
48 The Texture of a Word
Ian G. Dorward
49 Table of Unidentified Contents
Doug Guildford
50 Figuring the Ground
Pam Hall
51 Refugees in Southeast Asia
J. David Holbrook
52 Mid-winter Night / Summer Party
Jill Leahman
53 On Pathography
Robert Maunder
54 Elysium
Pamela Stewart
55 First Day on the Wards
Eileen Valinoti
56 On Call
Paul Whang
57 Making Images
Arthur Robinson Williams

What People are Saying About This

Antanas Selekas

‘Body & Soul comes from a brilliant collective of health professionals and patients whose insights are intellectual, humane and literary. I have watched the editors work their magic for years and there is no more sensitive and stimulating group I know now working in Canadian literature.‘
— Antanas Selekas, Director of Humber School for Writers, and author of Underground

Arthur W. Frank

‘Body & Soul makes the distinct contribution of offering multiple perspectives on illness and care. In these pages, we hear the voices of patients, their families and friends, and those who offer professional care. This collection will be of particular value to teachers of healing arts and reflective practice. No other volume I know covers such a broad spectrum of experiences, each richly articulated.‘
— Arthur W. Frank, author of At the Will of the Body, The Wandering Storyteller, The Renewal of Generosity, and Letting Stories Breathe

Barbara Sibbald

‘Body & Soul tosses a rescue rope across the growing chasm between science and humanism. These poignant and powerful pieces speak volumes about the healing properties of narrative medicine from the perspective of health care professions and patients as well as their families. This is medical humanities at its finest.‘
— Barbara Sibbald, Humanities Editor, Canadian Medical Association Journal, and author of The Book of Love: Guidance in Affairs of the Heart

Editorial Reviews

‘I read stories that moved me, stories with humour, stories that made my eyes moist…This book is a wonderful learning tool not just for practitioners, but for everyone. It is also a joy to read. Buy it.’—David Gelipter, Medical Humanities Journal, December 2012

‘Body & Soul tosses a rescue rope across the growing chasm between science and humanism. These poignant and powerful pieces speak volumes about the healing properties of narrative medicine from the perspective of health care professions and patients as well as their families. This is medical humanities at its finest.‘—Barbara Sibbald, Humanities Editor, Canadian Medical Association Journal, and author of The Book of Love: Guidance in Affairs of the Heart
‘Body & Soul comes from a brilliant collective of health professionals and patients whose insights are intellectual, humane and literary. I have watched the editors work their magic for years and there is no more sensitive and stimulating group I know now working in Canadian literature.‘—Antanas Selekas, Director of Humber School for Writers, and author of Underground
‘Body & Soul makes the distinct contribution of offering multiple perspectives on illness and care. In these pages, we hear the voices of patients, their families and friends, and those who offer professional care. This collection will be of particular value to teachers of healing arts and reflective practice. No other volume I know covers such a broad spectrum of experiences, each richly articulated.‘—Arthur W. Frank, author of At the Will of the Body, The Wandering Storyteller, The Renewal of Generosity, and Letting Stories Breathe

From the Publisher

‘I read stories that moved me, stories with humour, stories that made my eyes moist…This book is a wonderful learning tool not just for practitioners, but for everyone. It is also a joy to read. Buy it.’

Medical Humanities Journal, December 2012 - David Gelipter