Over the past ten years I’ve been writing a novel called A Short (Personal) History of the Bra and its Contents, and I’ve set up this blog to make a couple of the chapters available for feedback and discussion.
The subject of my novel raises a host of inter-connected issues to do with the complex and often contradictory cultural meanings of breasts and the experience of having breasts.
These chapters, ‘The Art of Peace, part 1′ & ‘part 2′‘, explore questions to do with the politics of cancer and the choices available for cancer treatments through the journey of Maddie, the narrator’s favourite aunt, who has been recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
To the dismay of her family, Maddie has decided — for the time being, at least — to use only non-toxic (alternative health or holistic) healing methods.
In presenting Maddie’s reasons, these chapters offer a critique of the ‘arsenal’ of toxic treatments – such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy — that have arisen alongside the metaphors of invasion and war that are so often used for cancer and cancer treatments.
Language is powerful, and labeling a cancer ‘aggressive’, for instance, rather than ‘rapidly reproducing’ is a choice; one that is always going to impact on how we view cancer and therefore how we respond to it.
Maddie wants to find a way to engage actively and energetically with her cancering cells without turning her body into a battle zone. For this she turns to the philosophy and practice of a defensive martial art called Aikido; also known as the ‘Art of Peace’.
Meanwhile, the narrator, Angela is researching in old newspapers in between her work at the Victorian State Library (in Melbourne, Australia) for a ‘Dr B’, who has a dream of creating a world class underwear museum. The year is 1999, the cusp of the new millennium, the tail end of the biological century.
If you would like to know more about the theoretical or philosophical back-story to this novel, you can check out some information about my PhD thesis – The Body as Fiction / Fiction as a Way of Thinking – which looks at a whole range of interconnected issues to do with embodiment and knowledge (how do we know what we know? and how do our bodies figure in this?). And you can also download chapters from it.
There’s also a section of notes on the text (the kind of thing that would go in the back of the book when it is published in print form). If you’re reading the chapters on your computer or e-book reader, you could open these in a separate window or tab and check them as you go, or you can just leave them to read later, as another layer to the story told through hyperlinks.
(Note, if you prefer to print out copies to read later, select the pdf versions in the sidebar or at the top of each chapter.)
For a short list of some fantastic links and books that might be useful for anyone who is experiencing a cancer diagnosis – see Maddie’s recommended reading list and links.
For a longer list of references, see the Select Bibliography.
For a quick checklist of characters, or to return to this page to leave comments (or for any of these links) — see the contents in the sidebar.
I hope you find it interesting. The novel is written in an unusual style, but if you just go with it and let it wash over you it should start to connect up and flow.
Before you read — a few things to note:
If you are currently receiving conventional treatment for cancer (such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy), and feel generally positive about this treatment, then this may not be the right time for you to read these chapters.
In her book Spirited Women, Petrea King suggests that, ultimately, it is peace of mind that cures cancer, so if you feel good about your treatment, stick with it.
However, if you currently are experiencing a cancer diagnosis and do have concerns about the treatment you are receiving or that has been offered to you, and are interested in alternative viewpoints, or already using alternative methods, then read on.
I hope there is something here that will give you heart.
And if you are currently well...before you click and move away, remember that it is estimated that one in three people in western countries will at some stage of their lives be diagnosed with cancer.
One of the things I would like to do with this novel is to provide readers with a space for thinking about these issues before something like this happens and they become caught up in the maelstrom of medical effects and decisions.
Please also note: this novel is a work of imagination and research, it is not about something I have personally experienced. While I have been able to draw on the experience of having a long-term chronic illness, this is very different to having one that is life-threatening.
(See ‘Maddie says’ for more about this.)
I am very interested in feedback from anyone who has had personal experience of using alternative or non-toxic methods of healing cancer (or been close to someone who has), particularly as I’m still not yet sure how Maddie’s journey will unfold, and it would be great to have some models to draw from.
But any feedback or comments, whatever your experience, are very welcome.
To make comments or give feedback:
As this blog is all about the one topic, I’ve made a separate comments page. You can go to the comments page from any section by clicking on the ‘comments’ link in the sidebar.
Or if you prefer you can send them to me privately. Please put ‘Art of Peace’ in the subject, and email to: