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Who speaks up for Inés Fonseca? Representing violence against vulnerable subjects and the ethics of care in fictional narrative about Alzheimer's disease: Ahora tocad música de baile (2004) by Andrés Barba

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2016

RAQUEL MEDINA
RAQUEL MEDINA*
Affiliation:
School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Raquel Medina, School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK E-mail: r.medina@aston.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper studies the 2004 Spanish fictional novel by Andrés Barba, Ahora tocad música de baile, one of the first cultural texts dealing entirely with Alzheimer's disease to appear in Spain. It argues that the significance of Barba's fictional novel rests on two important issues: the ethics of representation of violence against vulnerable subjects and the ethics of care. The paper analyses how these two issues allow Barba to create a story in which the verbal and physical abuse to which the person living with Alzheimer's disease is subjected places the reader, on the one hand, as voyeur/witness of the abuse; and, on the other, as interpreter, and ultimately judge, of the fine line that separates euthanasia, assisted suicide and murder. The open ending of the novel defers all ethical and moral judgement to the reader. It examines how the novel offers a monolithic perspective about Alzheimer's disease, in which care is presented as a burden. In fact, this study shows that the novel's multi-layered structure and polyphonic nature places the emphasis on stigmas, stereotypes and negative metaphors around Alzheimer's disease, as found in contemporary social discourses.

Keywords

fictionAlzheimer's diseaserepresentation of violencevulnerable subjectsethics of carestigmastereotypeseuthanasiamurderreadership
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 37 , Issue 7 , August 2017 , pp. 1394 - 1415
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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