tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post5145799163916828601..comments2023-11-30T13:49:20.131+00:00Comments on NASIM MARIE JAFRY: ON WRITING, READING and CHRONIC ILLNESS: Storytelling (2)nmjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05477643084619789093noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post-57059558410158740882011-07-19T20:42:10.406+01:002011-07-19T20:42:10.406+01:00Just to add: I have gleaned from reading other com...Just to add: I have gleaned from reading other comments that Hustvedt is sympathetic to the 'hysterical' syndromes in 19th C, and that she believes that illness that has no biomarkers is just as 'real' - and deserving of compassion - as illness that does. And we cannot pretend that in the past we have not been dismissed as hysterical women (or men); but research has come a long way - even if we don't have biomarkers -and what bothers me is that Hustvedt - and some reviewers - appear blissfully unaware of any biomedical research being in existence. It is the casual way she has lumped CFS in with a list of mental illnesses, with no acknowledgement of the global research that is actually going on to discover the pathology... It seems very 1980s. Someone should send her a link to the NIH workshop that took place in May.nmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05477643084619789093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post-57803889418676191742011-07-18T19:51:19.314+01:002011-07-18T19:51:19.314+01:00Cusp, I started a Siri novel once but couldn't...Cusp, I started a Siri novel once but couldn't finish it.nmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05477643084619789093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post-7408205140240525142011-07-18T19:50:28.579+01:002011-07-18T19:50:28.579+01:00And according to Telegraph, her publisher wanted t...And according to Telegraph, her publisher wanted to 'sex' up her book, bring it into a modern context - nothing inherently wrong with that, but to choose chronic fatigue syndrome as an example to tag on is just lazy - and histrionic - one might add. Also, at some point in the process an editor has endorsed Hustvedt's words - not questioned the current state of affairs of research around ME/CFS. It is very hard to believe that any academic on the planet is not aware that there is at least a robust 'debate' about ME - it's far too simplistic and easy to just lump it in with 'hysteria analogues'. And she lives in USA, has the XMRV question totally passed her by?nmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05477643084619789093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post-3760789037963697032011-07-18T19:02:04.060+01:002011-07-18T19:02:04.060+01:00'....not only do we now know that there is ind...'....not only do we now know that there is indeed a genetic component to ME, but we don't necessarily know that there aren't genetic components to the mental illnesses which she lumped ME in with' : quite right Amy. There is a lot of research that shows a genetic component to anorexia and bulimia but then of course thats another condition that's been 'dumbed down' and explained simplsitically as being about people wanting to look like skiiny models in mags.<br /><br />Thought that with that surname Asti was prob related to Siri, Have you read 'The Shaking Woman' : turgid and denseCusphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717783581169397585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post-37354675319831999992011-07-18T12:19:10.926+01:002011-07-18T12:19:10.926+01:00From the Telegraph review: The most arresting mate...From the Telegraph review: The most arresting material in the book appears as an afterthought, in an epilogue suggested by Hustvedt’s publisher. Here Hustvedt explores the relevance of Charcot’s work to such 21st-century hysteria analogues as chronic fatigue and Gulf War syndromes, tangible sets of symptoms for which there are no clear biomarkers. She points out that in an age where “it is no longer acceptable to argue that women are inherently unstable and predisposed to illness”, explanations of these syndromes tend towards scepticism or even dismissal.<br /><br />What is alarming is that reviewers are so easily led, colluding with the writer in believing - still, in 2011 - that CFS is a 21st century 'hysteria analogue'.<br /><br />http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8611010/Medical-Muses-by-Asti-Hustvedt-review.htmlnmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05477643084619789093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post-77170169711051946672011-07-18T11:52:30.928+01:002011-07-18T11:52:30.928+01:00Truly horrendous, lazy research must have gone int...Truly horrendous, lazy research must have gone into that book as you say. <br /><br />I'm sick of ME being kicked about for psychosocial "debate" by academics who have no medical knowledge.<br /><br />Another thing which struck me in the section you quote here is that not only do we now know that there is indeed a genetic component to ME, but we don't necessarily know that there aren't genetic components to the mental illnesses which she lumped ME in with. Assumption presented as fact.<br /><br />Wish I'd said that in my comment.Amyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04778257064104799002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25745858.post-49245599410525955222011-07-18T11:49:22.183+01:002011-07-18T11:49:22.183+01:00I only realised that Asti is sister of Siri Hustve...I only realised that Asti is sister of Siri Hustvedt.<br /><br />http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/books/1468093/siri-hustvedt-asti-hustvedtnmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05477643084619789093noreply@blogger.com