NARRATIVES OF THE DIAGNOSED SELF: A COMPARATIVE READING OF PAUL KALANITHI’S WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR, LISA RAY’S CLOSE TO THE BONE AND ANITA MOORJANI’S DYING TO BE ME

Abstract

Life threatening disease disrupts the natural flow of life in unexpected ways. The suddenness of the disease and its devastating impact not only on the sick body, but on the family members, are experiences that have often formed the subject matter of narratives. This paper is a comparative study of Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath becomes Air, Lisa Ray’s Close to the Bone, and Anita Moorjani’s Dying to be Me, from different perspectives and examines how the identities of the sick people are reconfigured within a short span of time. These three texts constitute a rich field of recorded moments that has scope for examining how medical narratives negotiate authority, embodiment, identity and cultural belonging. All three narratives condense the experience of a labour of self-authorship that is initiated by the onset of sudden changes in health conditions. Read through the four pivots of identity reconstruction, gendered embodiment, medical authority and diasporic culture, the three works collectively posit that contemporary illness memoirs function not merely as a personal revelation but as means to negotiate the conflicting and competing claims of culture, gender, biomedicine and spirituality.