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At the will of the body : reflections on illness PDF

164 Pages·1991·17.43 MB·English
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"a dramatic contribution to our LIVES."-M. SCOTT PECK "ARTHUR W. FRANK PROVIDES AN ELOQUENT AND LI.UMI NATI NO EXPLANATION OF WHAT IT IS LIKE-WHAT ITMEANI S-TO BE SICK." -CHARLES SILBERMAN, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW E. REFLECTIONS ON ILLNESS Tij "A profound meditation that is at once beautifully written and accessible to a wide audience, yet also very wise and gready challenging. A remarkable achievement." — Arthur Kleinman, M.D., author of The Illness Narratives Arthur Frank has survived two serious illnesses: a heart attack at age thirty- nine and cancer, diagnosed a year later. In this probing and life-affirm- ing book, he tells us how illness affects us and what it can teach us about life. Critical illness took Frank to a place he describes as "the threshold of life, from which you can see where your life could end." But from that vantage point he also found the opportunity to examine his life with absolute clari- ty and to choose its direcdon. "Illness is something to recover from if you can," he writes, "but recovery worth is only as much as what you learn about the life you are recovering." ''At the Will of the Body is a descripdon of feelings, reactions, [and] survival strategies, experienced when cata- strophic sickness cast the author in the role of padent." — The AmericanJournal of Hospice 6f Palliative Care AT THE WILL OF THE BODY Arthur W. Frank AT THE WILL OF THE BODY Reflections on Illness 4i HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Boston/New York Copyright © 1991 by Arthur W. Frank and Catherine E. Foote All rights reserved For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Frank, Arthur W. At the will of the body reflections on illness / Arthur W. Frank. p. cm. ISBN 0-395-56188-—4 ISBN 0-395-62430-4 (—pbk.) — I. Frank, Arth—ur W. Health. 2. Ca—ncer Patie—nts United Sta—tes Biography.— 3. Heart Infarctio—n Patients United States Biography. 4. Sick Psychology. I. Title. RC265.6.F73A3 1991 — 6i6'.ooi'9 dc20 90-4459 [b] cip Printed in the United States of America AGM 10 9 8 7 The quotation from The Illness Narratives^ by Arthur Kleinman, M.D., copyright © 1988 by Basic Books, Inc., is reprinted by permission ofBasic Books, Inc., Publishers, New York. The quo- tation from Diary ofa Zen Nun, by Nan Shin, © 1986, is re- printed by permission of E. P. Dutton, Inc. The quotation from "Author's Notes to The Marriage ofBette and Boo" by Chris- topherDurang,published byDramatists PlayService, isreprinted by permission of the author. The lyrics from "The Boy in the Bubble" and "Crazy Love," copyright © 1986 Paul Simon, are reprinted by permission of Paul Simon Music. The lines from "Gravy," by Raymond Carver, are from the bookA NewPath to theWaterfall,copyright© 1989 bytheestateofRaymondCarver, and are used by permission of Atlantic Monthly Press. The lines from Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell, copyright © 1988 by Stephen Mitchell, are reprinted by permis- sion of HarperCollins Publishers. To Cathie, who joins me in remembering LAURA IRENE FOOTE I928-1988 and BARBARA ANN WANNER I942-1988 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people influenced this book. I thank them for what they have been to me, but I Umit myself to naming those who directly affected the manuscript. My agent, Doe Coover, an- ticipated what the project was about and helped me hold onto my sense of purpose. The editorial care of Henry Ferris, of Houghton Mifflin, is apparent in every paragraph, if not every line. Peg Anderson, my manuscript editor, clarified my My thoughts and intentions throughout. thanks also to Larry Piatt for his assistance with the book's production. What I know ofillness I have learned together with my wife, Catherine Foote. This is our book, no less than they were our illnesses.

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