Mind The Gap:An Analysis Of The Narrative Strategies in Alzheimer's Novels

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine novels dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, and the strategies employed to give readers a coherent narrative despite the challenges imposed by the illness itself. This research analyses four different contemporary novels in which Alzheimer’s disease is pivotal, namely Still Alice by Lisa Genova, The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block, Elisabeth is Missing by Emma Healey, and Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante. Each of the novels tackles the illness under different perspectives: the first and the second novel deal with cases of Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, the third and fourth with older people affected by the illness. Through Still Alice, it can be seen how the illness affects the patient altering the surrounding environment, but also how the patient copes with the illness in the attempt to keep on living a normal life. Simultaneously, it can be seen how the narrative mirrors the patient’s attempt to cope with Alzheimer’s. With The Story of Forgetting, the question of orality and the idealization of the illness are tackled. Elisabeth is Missing and Turn of Mind are both mystery novels and have a first person narrator affected by Alzheimer’s. In the analysis of Elisabeth is Missing, issues concerning the unreliability of the narrator are examined. Further, it is argued that the novel can be considered an anti-detective novel. The analysis of Turn of Mind mainly focuses on the narratological choices of the author such as the change of narrator and the present tense narration which both complicate the reader’s experience. Overall, the research looks at how contemporary literature both portrays and employs Alzheimer’s disease in order to raise awareness about the illness among readers and challenge their reading experience.