Literature: An Overlooked Outlet for Patients. Recommendation #1
By Daniel Applebaum
Hello, Poems for Patients blog readers! My name is Daniel, and I am the president of Poems for Patients as of fall, 2024. As a 17-year-old who is a passionate poet and who has been a patient myself, the intersection of writing and illness holds a special place in my heart. I’m so excited to share some thoughts on my favorite literary works that combine these two concepts, in the hopes that any patients who may be reading this can find the same comfort I do in their pages.
For many chronically ill patients, it can be challenging to find intellectual and artistic outlets. Whether at home or in the hospital, patients may be struggling with boredom, grief, and social isolation. It is at this point that some seek solace in literature. In fact, one study showed that individuals experiencing chronic pain frequently turn to poetry or novels to cope with feelings of losing their previous identities and needing to readjust to new lifestyles. Coupled with evidence that nostalgia—an emotion that often suffuses literature—can instill within chronic pain patients a sense of future optimism by reminding them of their past lives, it is unsurprising that literary works serve as a source of "spiritual medicine."
Paradoxically, though, physical maladies have traditionally posed limitations to the field of literature, with Virginia Woolf famously lamenting literature's dearth of insights on pain and illness. While some patients may prefer to indulge in escapism through media that doesn't directly relate to their difficulties, many yearn for literature that grapples with pain and illness more directly—whether for specialized insight, clarity, or even to feel less alone in their struggles. At Poems for Patients, we believe in poetry's power to comfort, uplift, or simply distract those in the waiting room of their lives. We also believe that patients deserve access to artistic material that represents their dilemma in sensitive and nuanced ways, so we've decided to provide titles—a novel and a poetry collection, specifically—that fill the silence of illness with throbbing music. I’m sharing the first here, with more to come in subsequent posts, so be sure to follow along to learn about all the titles.
1. Kevin Brockmeier's The Illumination
This New York Times bestselling speculative-fiction novel probes illness through a fascinating premise: people's physical wounds radiate light, transforming the world into a constellation of pain. Through this conceit, Brockmeier raises philosophical questions about the relationship between physical and emotional trauma and empathy in regards to pain's visibility (a particularly scintillating case study when juxtaposed against pain's invisibility in the real world). Brockmeier also investigates human vulnerability and fragility – of the body and soul. Through lyrical, sensitive prose, Brockmeier leaves open the possibility that pain can be enlightening or even beautiful (hence "the illumination") without glamorizing pain (a vital and delicate distinction that Brockmeier deftly navigates). Brockmeier's novel deserves to be canonized not only as a great work of contemporary fiction, but also a novel especially well-suited for patients potentially experiencing grief, loss, and pain—and searching for material that poses the relevant philosophical questions.
In future blog posts, I would love to review The Illumination and more books in more detail (and include more texts that address illness!), but I hope patients consider reading Brockmeier’s work, in the hopes that it may provide wisdom relevant to their predicaments.
