蘇珊•古芭（Susan Gubar），是位獲獎學者、回憶錄作家、一名抗癌鬥士。在1979年，她投注畢生精力參與撰寫《閣樓上的瘋女人：女性作家與19世紀文學想像》，該書被譽為20世紀女性主義文學批評的《聖經》。隨後於2012年，她為奮力與卵巢癌戰鬥的病患發聲，在《Memoir of A Debulked Woman》這本感動人心的回憶錄中寫到更多她抗癌的痛苦經歷。

《文字療癒力》（Reading and Writing Cancer）是她的最新力作，記述一個令人信服的：『文字』有療癒的力量！

蘇珊•古芭本身也是一名印第安納大學的特聘榮譽退職教授，她在《紐約時報》固定專欄〈Living with Cancer〉敘述幫助病患、雇傭，及專科醫生找到文字療癒的力量。

本書綜合啟迪與指導，讓我們瞭解到閱讀與寫作的力量。為了刺激寫作的進展，她提出特別的習題、獎勵與範例，如討論弗朗西絲•伯尼（Frances Burney，英國女作家）的日記、討論托爾斯泰（Leo Tolstoy）與艾莉絲莫若（Alice Munro）筆下的故事，以及大量的回憶錄、小說、繪畫、攝影與部落格等，展現我們如何從藝術中獲得學習，並理解生病活著或死亡的意義。

 

Susan Gubar received the Natalie Davis Spingarn Writers Award from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and, with Sandra M. Gilbert, was awarded the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Book Critics Circle. She is the Distinguished Emeritus Professor of English at Indiana University and lives in Bloomington.

 

“The book I wish I’d had beside me as I embarked on my own journey through cancer diagnosis and treatment. For, more than any other book I’ve read, it helps us understand precisely what it is that writing can help us accomplish during the most difficult time of our lives, and…understand that we are not alone.”──Louise DeSalvo

“This is the book I wish I’d had when I had cancer. Susan Gubar’s clarity and compassion are a model for living with any illness that transforms a life.”──Arthur W. Frank, author of At the Will of the Body and The Wounded Storyteller

“Susan Gubar has given us a wonderful tour of cancer through the written word. There is something for everyone from the newly diagnosed wanting an outlet to understand their disease to the scholar looking for a summary of cancer writing, to the blogger! Should be required reading for all doctors and patients!”──Dr. Susan Love, M.D., author of Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book

“Beyond surviving, the greatest challenge after a cancer diagnosis is learning how to live as fully as possible. Gubar’s book shows us how reading and writing about living with cancer can help.”──Wendy S. Harpham, MD, author of Happiness in a Storm: Facing Illness and Embracing Life as a Healthy Survivor