Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance
Keywords
creative nonfiction, autobiographical essays, medical narratives, illness narratives, pathography
Abstract
This essay establishes pathography as a distinct genre of creative nonfiction, tracing the development, form, and cultural significance of this body of literature. I have broadly defined it as narratives on personal experiences of Gabriel Marcel's "dis-ease"—covering and critiquing the human understanding and experience of sickness, pain, and grief—which has evolved from autobiographical narratives and life-writing of patients and medical professionals to a recognized form of creative nonfiction. This study will analyze the genre's structure, themes, and rhetorical strategies with consideration to cultural significance and how it negotiates the human understanding of suffering, healing, and societal attitudes toward existence and embodiment.
First Page
58
Last Page
70
Recommended Citation
Almanzor, Sylvelyn Jo A.
"Narratives of Dis-Ease: A Genre Study of Pathography,"
Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance: Vol. 6, No. 1,
2026, pp. 58–-70.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59588/2782-8875.1117
Available at:
https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/akda/vol6/iss1/6
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