The Culture of Pain

by David B. Morris

Book Overview

This is a book about the meanings we make out of pain. The greatest surprise I encountered in discussing this topic over the past ten years was the consistency with which I was asked a single unvarying question: Are you writing about physical pain or mental pain? The overwhelming consistency of this response convinces me that modern culture rests upon and underlying belief so strong that it grips us with the force of a founding myth. Call it the Myth...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520082761
• ISBN13: 9780520082762
• Release Date: April 1993
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

pain

how does one rate a book about pain? it was painful to read! it's even painful to write this review.. i've been putting it off for weeks. pain can be fluid and contagious like this the book is very thorough, and covers pain from a large variety of viewpoints: historical, medical, biological, literary, social, sexual, aesthetic, etc i found it fascinating - full of interesting information, stories and cultural references. the connection between humor and pain was especially interesting (and enlightening), and i will not forget the description of pre-anesthetic surgery as long as i live it is heavy on literary references. david morris is clearly excited by literature, but some are extraneous or repetitive. it's a minor criticism having spelunked into the abyss and back - it was a powerful reading experience, but not one i'm in a hurry to repeat i would bet the author experienced sheer agony researching and writing this book :)

A splendidly rich set of reflections on living with pai

This is an extraordinary book, serious and varied and passionate; I recommend it to anyone who has encountered pain, and would be happy if all doctors had to read it in medical school. It argues that modern society no longer has any effective ways of coping with suffering - especially chronic pain -, of finding meaning in it, and explores some of the ways people in the past learned to live with - and learn from - pain, pain understood not as an enemy attack on human lives which ought to be pain-free, but as a part of life which must be lived with and which can be meaningful in itself, not just a deprivation of meaning.