On Graphic Medicine

Ian Williams was kind enough to alert me to the existence of a new project he is working on, entitled "Graphic Medicine."  I liked his description and rationale so much, I requested and received permission to post verbatim his discussion:

"It has long been known that comics are “not just for kids”. Over the past decade this underrated  medium has begun to receive recognition and acclaim from literary critics, academics, and broadsheet reviewers. This renaissance is partly due to the rise in popularity of the graphic novel. In contrast to production line, genre based, mainstream comics, graphic novels are full length, square bound “serious” comic books, aimed at adults, usually written and illustrated by one person, thus encapsulating the style, narrative and subjective worldview of an individual. Often drawing on direct experience, the author builds a world into which the reader is drawn. Amongst the growing number of autobiographical works, titles dealing directly with the patient experience of illness or caring for others with an illness are to be found.

Thanks in part to the medical humanities movement many medical schools will now have tutors suggesting students read classic literature or modern novels to gain insight into the human condition.  I think is high time that graphic fiction was taken as seriously: comics and graphic novels could be used as a resource for health professionals, playing a valuable role in: Reflecting or changing cultural perceptions of medicine; Relating the patient/carer/provider experience; Enabling discussion of difficult subjects; Helping other sufferers or carers.  To this end I have set up a website:

www.graphicmedicine.org

which aims to introduce the interested reader to some key works in the comics medium. I have reviewed and rated all the graphic novels and comics I have found to contain stories that could be of relevance (the trouble is, because I am of the opinion that everything is of relevance to healthcare professionals, I keep finding more!). The site aims to promote discussion and critical appraisal of the medium, it is not just a fan site. I have included a site user comments section after every review and a general discussion page. I hope that many people will register with the site and a community will develop.

Of course stories, whether written or drawn are not real life; even autobiographies are carefully constructed representations. Written stories tend to have a structure, with some sort of ultimate resolution or message (as well as a beginning and middle). Stories of illness that are written down or drawn by skilled, articulate authors, published by a commercial company and bought by enough people to warrant reprinting, are a highly selected marginal subgroup of the total that are "out there", passed on by word of mouth, unwritten. Many of these "other" stories will be incoherent, too painful to relate, too distressing to hear, and so utterly bleak, miserable or banal that no commercial press is ever likely to publish them. There are other arguments against taking literature or comics as representative of real experience. I am exploring these issues in my MA dissertation (working title: “Comics as medical narrative: a resource for health professionals?”) which I aim to finish this spring.

Ian Williams, General Practitioner and Trainer, North Wales UK"

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Recommended!

Comments

[Felice Aull]

An interesting post that draws attention to new genres for medical humanities. Editors of the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database have recognized this -- there are currently annotations of four graphic memoirs (Cancer Vixen, Epileptic, Mom's Cancer, Our Cancer Year) and one graphic novel (It's a Bird . . .). We distinguish graphic fiction from nonfiction with these subdivisions.