Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Illness as Metaphor & AIDS and Its Metaphors by Susan Sontag ISBN: 0-312-42013-7 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 25 August, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: "New Age" takes the rap
Comment: Even the conventional medical community is beginning to integrate modern medicine with "alternative" forms of treatment, as seen in such infamous documentaries as Bill Moyer's "Healing and the Mind." Any book, including Sontag's, is remiss if it fails to provide a balanced view of illness in the 21st century. (We know, for instance, that stress contributes to heart disease) Pretending that our internal lives have no bearing on our health is irresponsible. Sontag herself writes about the negative effects doctors have noted in a patient's health when the patient was given a diagnosis, thus underscoring the link between emotion and health. She then goes on to refute her own statement by discrediting the link between the two, and blaming the "new age" for perpetuating negativity in regard to illness.
I do believe that illness needs de-sensatization in our culture, but we must not succeed in downplaying the role our internal lives play in health. The myths and negativity that go along with a cancer diagnosis are only pernicious because of the emotion and negativity they hold. For Sontag to suggest there is no such link between emotion and health is ludicrious, and further perpetuates the notion that intelligence and material reality are the only threads to the tapestry of life.
There is no replacement for a healthy and centered attitude towards life and death. When an illness is balanced with conventional medicine, an informed and knowledgable patient who feels empowered by his or her choices, (whether they be conventional medicine or alternative choices)and a connection to one's self-- the patient fares much better.
"De-mythacizing" cancer and aids is an important step in reducing the emotional burden one feels from such a diagnosis. But it should also serve to replace that void with positivity, courage and a stronge sense of ones self.
Rating: 4
Summary: cancer phobia & AIDS as "payback" for sin
Comment: Cancer phobia, some people say, is worse than cancer. Well, not really... But true up to a point. Being afraid of a disease, be it cancer, AIDS, or whatever else, can be debilitating. And who of us doesn't know people that are scared to death of cancer, or of AIDS? And how can we all not be scared (maybe even terrified) of these diseases, when in our eyes they're not just diseases but are loaded with a whole lot of different meanings...
Susan Sontag's essay on cancer (& her later essay on AIDS) deal with these diseases as metaphors of whatever is bad, evil, reprehensible, sinful about human experience. Especially with cancer, the metaphor is more poignant, since, cancer still has unknown causes, at least up to a point: of course cancer now is much better understood, but in '78, when Sontag wrote the first essay, cancer was mostly unknown territory. Obviously, when we're talking about unknown territory, unknown (& mysterious) causes, there's a lot of theoretizing & projecting: anyone can project their own ideas on this white wall of ignorance. And so people 'fight' cancer, 'win the battle' against cancer, 'have cancer personalities', 'cause' their cancer or whatever else. It was even worse with AIDS, especially in the '80s: then it was widely (& stupidely) believed that this new disease was the payback for the free sexuality of the '70s, & especially of the sexuality of homosexuals.
Susan Sontag's essays tackle these issues & show the metaphors & prejudices of illness as what they are. They are important, clearly-written essays, & if today some of these ideas appear obvious or widely known, remember that Sontag talked about these things many years ago, being one of the first people to address the issue.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great stuff, with a caveat...
Comment: I've read only the original essay (Illness as Metaphor) so will
comment on that alone. The book is an excellent antidote to the
overemphasis on psychological causes for physical illness that is
current in society and, especially, in the "new age"
community. Well worth reading and digesting for that purpose.
This
said, I do think [the text] overstates the case somewhat. There is
a body of empirical evidence showing, for example, links between
mental state and immune function. This link would, in principle, be
expected to influence the incidence of both infective disease and
cancer. For example, only a fraction of those who are infected with
T.B. develop clinical disease, and stress may play a role in
activating latent disease in those who are chronically infected. In
polio, the situation is even more extreme, as only about one pecent of
those who are infected develop clinical disease. Thus, for many
infective diseases, there is a marked difference between rates of
infection and rates of "symptomaticity." It seems likely
that the mind and mental state is one (but certainly not the only!)
factor that influences whether an infection becomes clinical
illness.
Similarly, in cancer, as I understand it, all of us are
constantly experiencing mutations that have the potential to become
cancerous. But most of these mutations are eliminated, before they do
harm, by the operation of various "survaliance" systems
(including the immune system) in the body. Thus, the onset of cancer
may involve an escape from survaliance. To the extent that mental
state affects immune function, the mind could affect the appearance of
cancer. Of course, there are many factors--such as environmental
carcinogens, smoking, etc.--which in some fraction of the population
will cause rates of mutation that will overwhelm the bodies
survaliance functions, perhaps even when these systems are operating
well.
In conclusion, I think Sontag is on to something important,
and makes excellent points that many people could learn from. But
these points should be viewed as part of the picture, and good food
for thought, rather than the whole truth.
Comments and corrections
welcome at [email protected]
 |
Title: Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag ISBN: 0374248583 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 19 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
 |
Title: Against Interpretation : And Other Essays by Susan Sontag ISBN: 0312280866 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 25 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: On Photography by Susan Sontag ISBN: 0312420099 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 25 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Illness and Culture in the Postmodern Age by David B. Morris ISBN: 0520226895 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 07 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition by Arthur M.D. Kleinman ISBN: 0465032044 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: September, 1989 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
