Literatures of Madness: Disability Studies and Mental Health (Literary Disability Studies)

__Literatures of Madness: Disability Studies and Mental Health__ brings together scholars working in disability studies, mad studies, feminist theory, Indigenous studies, postcolonial theory, Jewish literature, queer studies, American studies, trauma studies, and comics to create an intersectional community of scholarship in literary disability studies of mental health. The collection contains essays on canonical authors and lesser known and sometimes forgotten writers, including Sylvia Plath, Louisa May Alcott, Hannah Weiner, Mary Jane Ward, Michelle Cliff, Lee Maracle, Joanne Greenberg, Ann Bannon, Jerry Pinto, Persimmon Blackbridge, and others. The volume addresses the under-representation of madness and psychiatric disability in the field of disability studies, which traditionally focuses on physical disability, and explores the controversies and the common ground among disability studies, anti-psychiatric discourses, mad studies, graphic medicine, and health/medical humanities. Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Notes on Contributors 11 List of Figures 15 Chapter 1 Introduction: Breathing in Airless Spaces 16 Works Cited 23 Part I Mad Community 24 Chapter 2 Coming Out Mad, Coming Out Disabled 25 Mad Studies in Relation to Disability Studies 27 Claiming Madness and Disability 30 Coming Out Mad and Disabled 33 Price and Disability Community 34 Aubrecht and the Language of Mental Illness 36 Withers and Disablism 38 Conclusion 40 Works Cited 42 Chapter 3 Going Barefoot: Mad Affiliation, Identity Politics, and Eros 45 Works Cited 62 Chapter 4 “Hundreds of People Like Me”: A Search for a Mad Community in The Bell Jar 64 Criticism on The Bell Jar: Making Space for Communities of the Ill 66 “A Classical Neurotic”: The Bell Jar’s Definition of Mental Illness 67 Finding a Place to Be in Pain: Community in Gossip Papers 68 Dangerous Places: Institutions as Last Hope for Community 70 Connection Through Pain: Forming New Communities in the Asylum 72 Conclusion 76 Works Cited 80 Chapter 5 Writing Madness in Indigenous Literature: A Hesitation 83 Works Cited 98 Part II Mad History 100 Chapter 6 “Is the Young Lady Mad?”: Psychiatric Disability in Louisa May Alcott’s Fiction 101 “Slowly Coming Out of the Slough of Despond” 102 Iconic Madwomen: “A Whisper in the Dark” 104 The “Chameleon Self”: Moods 108 Depression and Recovery: Work 111 Conclusion: Minerva Moody 114 Works Cited 117 Chapter 7 The Snake Pit: Mary Jane Ward’s Asylum Fiction and Mental Health Advocacy 119 Patient #19706: Fiction and Lived Experience 120 Madness Reconstructed: Memory Loss, Narrative, and Politics in The Snake Pit 123 Going Mad in Public: Postwar Culture and Psychiatry 127 Counterclockwise: Advocacy and the Asylum 129 Conclusion 132 Works Cited 135 Chapter 8 Alcoholic, Mad, Disabled: Constructing Lesbian Identity in Ann Bannon’s “The Beebo Brinker Chronicles” 137 Queerness and Disability in the 1950s–1960s 137 The “Golden Age” of Lesbian Pulp Fiction 139 Disabling Lesbians in Ann Bannon’s Novels 141 Madwomen in “The Beebo Brinker Chronicles” 146 Conclusion 151 Works Cited 152 Chapter 9 Seeing Words, Hearing Voices: Hannah Weiner, Dora García, and the Poetic Performance of Radical Dis/Humanism 154 From Humanism to Radical Dis/Humanism 156 Clairvoyant Interruptions 161 The Marginal, the Radical 165 Towards a Radical Dis/Humanist Poetics 169 Works Cited 170 Part III Mad Survival 172 Chapter 10 “My Difference Is Not My [Mental] Sickness”: Ethnicity and Erasure in Joanne Greenberg’s Jewish American Life Writing 173 Disability, Difference, Language 174 Difference, Stereotypes, Ethnic Erasure 181 Resisting Closure, Leaving a Legacy 185 Works Cited 189 Chapter 11 Resistance, Suffering, and Psychiatric Disability in Jerry Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom and Amandeep Sandhu’s Sepia Leaves 191 On Mental Illness and a Love of Stories: Jerry Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom 193 Memories and the Quest for Meaning in Amandeep Sandhu’s Sepia Leaves 199 Conclusion 204 Works Cited 204 Chapter 12 Mental Disability and Social Value in Michelle Cliff’s Abeng 206 Madness, Fiction, and Narrative Prosthesis 207 Caribbean Madness and Colonialism 209 Mental Disability in Abeng 212 Disability, Collectivity, Inclusivity 215 Conclusion: Mental Disability and Postcolonial Fiction 217 Works Cited 220 Chapter 13 It Doesn’t Add Up: Mental Illness in Paul Hornschemeier’s Mother, Come Home 222 Mother, Come Home 223 The Wound 224 Field 227 If Mary Loves Anyone, Then She Loves John 228 Graphic Medicine 231 I Was Much Older Then 232 We Are All Released 237 Works Cited 239 Index 241 Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Introduction: Breathing in Airless Spaces (Elizabeth J. Donaldson)....Pages 1-8 Front Matter ....Pages 9-9 Coming Out Mad, Coming Out Disabled (Elizabeth Brewer)....Pages 11-30 Going Barefoot: Mad Affiliation, Identity Politics, and Eros (PhebeAnn M. Wolframe)....Pages 31-49 “Hundreds of People Like Me”: A Search for a Mad Community in The Bell Jar (Rose Miyatsu)....Pages 51-69 Writing Madness in Indigenous Literature: A Hesitation (Erin Soros)....Pages 71-87 Front Matter ....Pages 89-89 “Is the Young Lady Mad?”: Psychiatric Disability in Louisa May Alcott’s Fiction (Karyn Valerius)....Pages 91-108 The Snake Pit: Mary Jane Ward’s Asylum Fiction and Mental Health Advocacy (Elizabeth J. Donaldson)....Pages 109-126 Alcoholic, Mad, Disabled: Constructing Lesbian Identity in Ann Bannon’s “The Beebo Brinker Chronicles” (Tatiana Prorokova)....Pages 127-143 Seeing Words, Hearing Voices: Hannah Weiner, Dora García, and the Poetic Performance of Radical Dis/Humanism (Andrew McEwan)....Pages 145-162 Front Matter ....Pages 163-163 “My Difference Is Not My [Mental] Sickness”: Ethnicity and Erasure in Joanne Greenberg’s Jewish American Life Writing (Gail Berkeley Sherman)....Pages 165-182 Resistance, Suffering, and Psychiatric Disability in Jerry Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom and Amandeep Sandhu’s Sepia Leaves (Srikanth Mallavarapu)....Pages 183-197 Mental Disability and Social Value in Michelle Cliff’s Abeng (Drew Holladay)....Pages 199-214 It Doesn’t Add Up: Mental Illness in Paul Hornschemeier’s Mother, Come Home (Jessica Gross)....Pages 215-233 Back Matter ....Pages 235-242 Introduction: Breathing In Airless Spaces / Elizabeth J. Donaldson -- Coming Out Mad, Coming Out Disabled / Elizabeth Brewer -- Going Barefoot : Mad Affiliation, Identity Politics, And Eros / Phebeann M. Wolframe -- Hundreds Of People Like Me : A Search For A Mad Community In The Bell Jar / Rose Miyatsu -- Writing Madness In Indigenous Literature : A Hesitation / Erin Soros -- Is The Young Lady Mad? : Psychiatric Disability In Louisa May Alcott's Fiction / Karyn Valerius -- The Snake Pit : Mary Jane Ward's Asylum Fiction And Mental Health Advocacy / Elizabeth J. Donaldson -- Alcoholic, Mad, Disabled : Constructing Lesbian Identity In Ann Bannon's The Beebo Brinker Chronicles / Tatiana Prorokova -- Seeing Words, Hearing Voices : Hannah Weiner, Dora García, And The Poetic Performance Of Radical Dis/humanism / Andrew Mcewan -- My Difference Is Not My (mental) Sickness : Ethnicity And Erasure In Joanne Greenberg's Jewish American Life Writing / Gail Berkeley Sherman -- Resistance, Suffering, And Psychiatric Disability In Jerry Pinto's Em And The Big Hoom And Amandeep Sandhu's Sepia Leaves / Srikanth Mallavarapu -- Mental Disability And Social Value In Michelle Cliff's Abeng / Drew Holladay -- It Doesn't Add Up : Mental Illness In Paul Hornschemeier's Mother, Come Home / Jessica Gross. Elizabeth J. Donaldson, Editor. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Literatures of Madness: Disability Studies and Mental Health brings together scholars working in disability studies, mad studies, feminist theory, Indigenous studies, postcolonial theory, Jewish literature, queer studies, American studies, trauma studies, and comics to create an intersectional community of scholarship in literary disability studies of mental health. The collection contains essays on canonical authors and lesser known and sometimes forgotten writers, including Sylvia Plath, Louisa May Alcott, Hannah Weiner, Mary Jane Ward, Michelle Cliff, Lee Maracle, Joanne Greenberg, Ann Bannon, Jerry Pinto, Persimmon Blackbridge, and others. The volume addresses the under-representation of madness and psychiatric disability in the field of disability studies, which traditionally focuses on physical disability, and explores the controversies and the common ground among disability studies, anti-psychiatric discourses, mad studies, graphic medicine, and health/medical humanities. -- From publisher's website