Archives, Paratexts and Life Writing in the First World War

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract

The chapters in this collection have demonstrated a range of ways the phrase 'medical paratext' can be conceptualised, and particularly the interactions between medical practice, medical texts, and their writers and readers. Focusing on the diaries of Canadian nurse-writers in the First World War (particularly the work of nursing sister Clare Gass and VAD Alice Lighthall), this chapter proposes that paratext can demonstrate the contemporary archiving and historiography of the authors' experience, and support their claims to authoritative writing - as military histories, as medical practitioners, and as women operating within male-dominated environments.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMedical Paratexts from Medieval to Modern
Subtitle of host publicationDissecting the Page
EditorsHannah Tweed, Diane Scott
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Chapter8
Pages123-137
Number of pages15
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-73426-2
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-73425-5
Publication statusPublished - 15 May 2018

Publication series

NamePalgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s) 2018

Keywords

  • Medical humanities
  • History of medicine
  • Book history
  • Paratexts
  • First World War
  • Diaries
  • Nurses

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