An autothanatographical approach to Paul Kalanithi’s when breath becomes air
Other Title(s)
سيرة الموت : دراسة في السيرة الذاتية لكاالنيثي "عندما تتحول األنفاس إلى هواء"
Author
Radwan, Mahmud Ibrahim Ibrahim
Source
Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts
Issue
Vol. 79, Issue 6 (31 Jul. 2019), pp.7-56, 50 p.
Publisher
Cairo University Faculty of Arts
Publication Date
2019-07-31
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
50
Main Subjects
Topics
Abstract EN
The study undertakes to examine Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air (2016) in the light of the deliberations on theories of 'autothanatography' embraced by several critics.
It argues that when one is faced with own mortality, textuality can be instrumental in reformulating the popular phobic avoidant conceptualization of death as the commencement of the transience and the end of the self.
It is Kalanithi's cancer diagnosis that foments him to write his 'authothanatography.
' In his narrative of the dying self, he unfolds how his professional, smooth familial and social life has been overturned and disrupted under the painful weight of the threatening illness.
Kalanithi implements multiple strategies in an endeavor to move out of the defeating and pessimistic story of dying, to terminate his muddled state of life, to shift from diagnostic shock to living with cancer, and to restore predictability, control and production of desires.
This is manifested in the struggle to tell his story of illness, to pursue his vocation in literature and philosophy and to restitute of the past self.
The strategies Kalanithi has utilized contributed to his ability to face terminal illness and mortality with integrity and bravery to make his remaining days redolent.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Radwan, Mahmud Ibrahim Ibrahim. 2019. An autothanatographical approach to Paul Kalanithi’s when breath becomes air. Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts،Vol. 79, no. 6, pp.7-56.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1079757
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Radwan, Mahmud Ibrahim Ibrahim. An autothanatographical approach to Paul Kalanithi’s when breath becomes air. Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts Vol. 79, no. 6 (Jul. 2019), pp.7-56.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1079757
American Medical Association (AMA)
Radwan, Mahmud Ibrahim Ibrahim. An autothanatographical approach to Paul Kalanithi’s when breath becomes air. Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts. 2019. Vol. 79, no. 6, pp.7-56.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1079757
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
-
Record ID
BIM-1079757