For a Narrative Statute of Narrative Medicine

Abstract

This paper proposes the centrality of narratology for narrative medicine. Recalling the epistemological revolution of Italian culture at the dawn of the Unification of Italy, in which the protagonists were the Neapolitan Hegel Scholars, this paper follows the debate between humanities and medicine, which has accompanied the genesis of narrative medicine since the second half of the twentieth century. It then follows paths emerging from different research fields (sociology, philosophy, medicine, literature), leading then to an epistemological reflection on medical practice as a response to the radicalisation of “scientism” and evidence-based medicine. This radicalisation resulted in the patient being reduced to a series of organs while also causing a disappearance of the traditional figure of the doctor. After a brief overview of the first generation of studies, experiments and research, a concrete proposal will also be made from the territories of literary studies, for a second generation of narrative medicine: to direct NM to a specific discipline, narratology, or rather, to initiate a “medical narratology” as a teaching
trans-dicipline that can be adopted by university and post-graduate courses for medical health professionals. This paper proposes the idea that narrative medicine, understood as a “complex system”, remains a challenge for scholars.