T. S. Eliot memorably said that separation of the man who suffers from the mind that creates is the root of good poetry. This book argues that this is wrong. Beginning from Virginia Woolf's 'On Being Ill', it demonstrates that modernism is, on the contrary, invested in physical illness as a subject, method, and stylizing force. Experience of physical ailments, from the fleeting to the fatal, the familiar to the unusual, structures the writing of the modernists, both as sufferers and onlookers. Illness reorients the relation to, and appearance of, the world, making it appear newly strange; it determines the character of human interactions and models of behaviour. As a topic, illness requires new ways of writing and thinking, altered ideas of the subject, and a re-examination of the roles of invalids and carers. This book reads the work five authors, who are also known for their illness, hypochondria, or medical work: D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Dorothy Richardson, and Winifred Holtby. It overturns the assumption that illness is a simple obstacle to creativity and instead argues that it is a subject of careful thought and cultural significance.

About the Author
Peter Fifield is Lecturer in Modern Literature in the Department of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London. His interests include modernism, medical humanities, and literary ethics. He has published work on Samuel Beckett, E. M. Forster, Emmanuel Levinas, and others.

Reviews
A timely and observant piece of research that should be of great interest to scholars of modernism, the medical humanities, and beyond. * Chloe R. Green, University of Melbourne *
Modernism and Physical Illness presents excellent original research. It also offers a study in how one might think about the relationship between illness and literary criticism more generally, and the necessary limits to how one might form arguments out of illness. * Kirsty Martin, Modern Language Review *
This is a study that prompts more reflection about modernism and illness and does so in such a way that is useful to our current moment. * Robert Volpicelli, Journal of Modern Literature *
Overall, Modernism and Physical Illness adds a rigorous close reading of Fifield's selected authors to the ongoing work being done in modernist studies. The intersection of modernist aesthetics and physical illness is rich with possible contributions to our understanding of the modernist movement overall. Fifield's reading is a thoughtful addition that adds dimension to modernist studies while providing groundwork for forging new alliances with new work in disability studies. * Jennifer Marchisotto, James Joyce Quarterly *
Recommended. * L. Simon, CHOICE *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198825425
Author Peter Fifield
Format Hardback
Page Count 258
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 542g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 161mm * 21mm