Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
"The Final Chapter: Terminal Illness in Russian Literature"363 views
Author
Shapiro, Sasha, Slavic Languages and Literatures - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia
Advisors
Clowes, Edith, AS-Slavic Languages and Literatures (SLAV), University of Virginia
Herman, David, AS-Slavic Languages and Literatures (SLAV), University of Virginia
Dianina, Katia, AS-Slavic Languages and Literatures (SLAV), University of Virginia
Childress, Marcia, University of Virginia
Abstract
In “The Final Chapter: Terminal Illness in Russian literature, 1850–1999,” I investigate the experience of confronting one’s mortality through the prism of terminal illness in the literary works of Realist Russian writers Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Solzhenitsyn, and Ulitskaya. In exploring what it means to die a “good death,” I consider the perspectives of terminally ill patients, their doctors, and their caregivers, arguing that a complete picture of the dying experience depends on the careful examination of each perspective’s understanding of illness. I trace how the idea of a “good death” changes across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and argue that an ideal death is one in which the dying person finds courage and strength to accept their mortality, and one in which their doctors and caregivers respect their patient’s dignity and autonomy. I contend that doctors and caregivers do what is called empathic witnessing of their patient’s illness and practice “attuned care” in order to create a nurturing environment for the dying person to pass away peacefully.
Degree
PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)
Keywords
terminal illness; Realism; end of life; dying; caregivers; doctors; dying patients; Russian literature; attuned care; empathic witnessing; being-towards-death
Language
English
Rights
All rights reserved (no additional license for public reuse)
Shapiro, Sasha. "The Final Chapter: Terminal Illness in Russian Literature". University of Virginia, Slavic Languages and Literatures - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, PHD (Doctor of Philosophy), 2023-04-30, https://doi.org/10.18130/m0yh-jw85.
