Dementia mind styles in contemporary narrative fiction

Abstract

This article reports the findings of the first large-scale study into how dementia is depicted in the minds of fictional characters. Dementia is increasingly prevalent and, in the absence of a cure, requires better societal and cultural awareness. Literary representations offer readers the opportunity to ‘try on’ fictional minds, and better understand alternative cognitive experiences. Stylisticians have explored the ‘mind styles’ of characters with various illnesses, characteristics and behaviours, but this is the first comprehensive study of dementia mind styles, and indeed, any one syndrome. A substantial corpus of contemporary fiction depicting the internal perspectives of characters and narrators with dementia was compiled. The data is analysed qualitatively and quantitively, embracing a methodological eclecticism suited to understanding the patterns in characters’ cognitive experiences across texts. The results are presented thematically, demonstrating the enduring significance of features traditionally associated with mind style (underlexicalisation, diminished sense of cause and effect, and pragmatic difficulties), as well as a wide range of new features. These include discourse presentation, sensory descriptions and conceptualisation of the self and others. By exploring the mind styles of many characters with dementia, this research not only widens the application of the concept, but also the range of features associated with its creation and, importantly, offers a theoretical redefinition: mind style is redefined as an iconic representation of fictional cognition, offering a simulated experience for readers.

“Sometimers, Alzheimer’s? I love that! That’s definitely me”: Readers’ Responses to Fictional Dementia Narratives

“…First, the second author, a specialist in cognitive stylistics and literary language, constructed a large corpus of 400 000 words of dementia fiction. For a detailed exposition of the methodology for this first phase of the project see Lugea (2022) . From this corpus, she undertook a systematic process of selecting relevant texts according to the following criteria: 1.…”

“…We were also interested in linguistic features used by authors to depict dementia (e.g., underlexicalization—the character’s inability to recall a specific word, using a marked alternative word or phrase). We decided to focus on fictional characters rather than autobiographical accounts because we wanted to be able to explore how “ fictional language represents the cognitive experience of dementia” ( Lugea, 2022 , p. 169, emphasis added).…”

“…This shortlist was reviewed and 12 extracts were chosen—2 extracts for each of the 6 reading group meetings held ( Table 1 ). Extracts were chosen if they included metaphors or other linguistic devices which allowed the reader to access the character’s experience of living with dementia, referred to as their “dementia mind style” ( Lugea, 2022 , p. 175).…”

“…In part, this is a result of the approach taken in compiling the corpus of dementia fiction. By limiting the texts to those published in English our study is not generalizable beyond “Anglophone cultural representations of dementia” ( Lugea, 2022 , p. 173). Although this is a limitation of the project, it reflects the genre more generally and so we have sought to address this via the publication of an anthology of dementia fiction which commissioned fourteen dementia stories including one by a Syrian-Irish author and another by a British-Ghanaian author (see Carson and Lugea, 2022 , p. 5).…”