Communication as Cure

Fleeing oncoming enemy forces in Southern France in the summer of 1940, Leonora Carrington passed into Spain and suffered a mental breakdown. Written in the summer of 1943 in an abandoned embassy building in Mexico City, the essay Down Below recalls this treatment in unnerving detail, anticipating l...

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Autor principal: Hannah McIntyre
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: University of Edinburgh 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/24e2449734ec4a2cb568237b8b42beee
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:24e2449734ec4a2cb568237b8b42beee2021-11-23T09:50:51ZCommunication as Cure1749-977110.2218/forum.31.5488https://doaj.org/article/24e2449734ec4a2cb568237b8b42beee2021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.forumjournal.org/article/view/5488https://doaj.org/toc/1749-9771Fleeing oncoming enemy forces in Southern France in the summer of 1940, Leonora Carrington passed into Spain and suffered a mental breakdown. Written in the summer of 1943 in an abandoned embassy building in Mexico City, the essay Down Below recalls this treatment in unnerving detail, anticipating later (semi-)autobiographical works such as Janet Frame’s Faces in the Water (1961) or Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963). This essay seeks to build upon this scholarship by examining the composition of the text as a ‘treatment’ in itself, thus centring the clinical reality of Carrington’s experience, but also re-asserting her authorial agency. The intensely complex gestation of the text is, the author argues, intrinsic to its central themes and concerns, as well as constituting an essential element of the journey from illness to health. The author draws a comparison between the dehumanising effects of the sanitorium and the convulsive drug Cardiazol, whereby the isolation of madness is unbearably heightened; and the collaborative restoration of identity that occurs through narration.Hannah McIntyreUniversity of EdinburgharticleFine ArtsNLanguage and LiteraturePENForum, Iss 31 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Fine Arts
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Language and Literature
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spellingShingle Fine Arts
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Language and Literature
P
Hannah McIntyre
Communication as Cure
description Fleeing oncoming enemy forces in Southern France in the summer of 1940, Leonora Carrington passed into Spain and suffered a mental breakdown. Written in the summer of 1943 in an abandoned embassy building in Mexico City, the essay Down Below recalls this treatment in unnerving detail, anticipating later (semi-)autobiographical works such as Janet Frame’s Faces in the Water (1961) or Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963). This essay seeks to build upon this scholarship by examining the composition of the text as a ‘treatment’ in itself, thus centring the clinical reality of Carrington’s experience, but also re-asserting her authorial agency. The intensely complex gestation of the text is, the author argues, intrinsic to its central themes and concerns, as well as constituting an essential element of the journey from illness to health. The author draws a comparison between the dehumanising effects of the sanitorium and the convulsive drug Cardiazol, whereby the isolation of madness is unbearably heightened; and the collaborative restoration of identity that occurs through narration.
format article
author Hannah McIntyre
author_facet Hannah McIntyre
author_sort Hannah McIntyre
title Communication as Cure
title_short Communication as Cure
title_full Communication as Cure
title_fullStr Communication as Cure
title_full_unstemmed Communication as Cure
title_sort communication as cure
publisher University of Edinburgh
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/24e2449734ec4a2cb568237b8b42beee
work_keys_str_mv AT hannahmcintyre communicationascure
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