På liv och död. Om Kristian Gidlunds I kroppen min och autopatografins mediala former

Abstract

Since the millennium the autobiography as a genre has received a tremendous boost. Especially noticeably has been the major impact of autobiographical stories of illness, so-called autopathographies. One important reason for this is the rapid development of new media, especially on the Internet, another the all increasing medicalization of society. One of the most talked about autopathographies in Sweden in the 2000’s is Kristian Gidlund’s I kroppen min [In my body], which was first published as a blog and then remediated into two books. The article examines Gidlund’s life-narrative about living with a fatal cancer disease from three perspectives. First, it approaches the question of why Gidlund’s story attrac ted so much media and cultural attention. Then the focus is directed at the illness narrative that finds expression in Gidlund’s blog and the two books: How do you tell about the traumatic experience of suffering from cancer? In what ways do the different media – blog versus book – matter in the design of the life story? Finally, the article discusses how Gidlund’s narrative gradually approaches the autobiographical genre termed autothanatography and how it thus goes from being life- writing to become death-writing.