Expanding beyond psychiatry and antipsychiatry: mental illness in 1960s literature

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dc.contributor.authorMaggiacomo, Emily Claire
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeFaubert, Michelle (English, Theatre, Film and Media)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeFries, Christopher (Sociology and Criminology)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeDonaldson, Elizabeth J. (Arizona State University)
dc.contributor.supervisorTromly, Lucas
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-05T17:00:25Z
dc.date.available2024-01-05T17:00:25Z
dc.date.issued2023-12-21
dc.date.submitted2023-12-21T21:41:05Zen_US
dc.date.submitted2023-12-23T17:54:16Zen_US
dc.date.submitted2024-01-03T21:57:37Zen_US
dc.date.submitted2024-01-04T22:42:13Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplineEnglish, Theatre, Film and Mediaen_US
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation analyzes literature written about mental illness by mentally ill authors in the 1960s to demonstrate how they converge with and diverge from the antipsychiatry ideas of Erving Goffman, Thomas Szasz, R. D. Laing, and Michel Foucault. I highlight fiction’s capacity to resist rigid definitions of mental illness, challenge binary perspectives, and ultimately provide a healing space for readers. Chapter One extends Goffman’s notion of the “self-story” in Asylums (1961) to Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963) to establish the power of fiction as a medium for portraying personal experiences with mental illness. Chapter Two investigates how Szasz’s concept of the “language of illness” in The Myth of Mental Illness (1961) operates in Joanne Greenberg’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1964) to reveal that mental illness cannot be translated into ordinary language and, as such, is more appropriately described in literature. Chapter Three applies Laing’s theory of “metanoia” in The Politics of Experience (1967) to Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) to argue that literature has healing potential through the narrative journey of mental illness. Chapter Four discusses the parallels between Foucault’s arguments on madness and literature in Madness and Civilization (1964) and Janet Frame’s Faces in the Water (1961) before using Foucault’s theory of the author-function in “What is an Author?” (1969) to analyze how Frame’s identity as a mentally ill author has perpetuated and, in turn, challenges binary understandings of mental illness. This dissertation ultimately argues that literature is a vital, underexplored realm for depicting mental illness, encouraging an expansive understanding of mental illness that transcends confining categories.
dc.description.noteFebruary 2024
dc.description.sponsorshipGovernment of Canada; Canada Study Grant The Berbrayer Family; Caroline Berbrayer Graduate Fellowship; 40230 University of Manitoba Alumni Association; University of Manitoba Alumni Association Graduate Fellowship; 46097 Dr. Herbert Weil; Weil Fellowship; 44014 Dr. W. John Rempel; Dr. W. John Rempel Memorial Scholarship; 45794
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/37935
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.subjectLiterature
dc.subjectMad Studies
dc.subjectMadness
dc.subjectAntipsychiatry
dc.subjectMental Illness
dc.subjectTwentieth Century
dc.subjectDisability Studies
dc.subjectErving Goffman
dc.subjectThomas Szasz
dc.subjectR. D. Laing
dc.subjectMichel Foucault
dc.subjectSylvia Plath
dc.subjectJoanne Greenberg
dc.subjectKurt Vonnegut
dc.subjectJanet Frame
dc.titleExpanding beyond psychiatry and antipsychiatry: mental illness in 1960s literature
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
local.subject.manitobano
oaire.awardTitleUniversity of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship
oaire.awardURIhttps://umanitoba.ca/graduate-studies/funding-awards-and-financial-aid/university-manitoba-graduate-fellowship-umgf
project.funder.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13039/100010318
project.funder.nameUniversity of Manitoba
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