Illness, Intimacy and Care in Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21390135
AutoresBeatriz Marques Gonçalves (0000-0002-4967-4167, University of Coimbra, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume72
Fascículo11 Zeszyt specjalny
Páginas47-58
Data de publicação2024-06-06
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoRoczniki Humanistyczne (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0035-7707 • E-ISSN: 2544-5200
EditoraTowarzystwo Naukowe KUL (PUBLISHER • PL)
DOI10.18290/rh247211.4s
OpenAlexW4399386807
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas5

Yaa Gyasi’s second novel, Transcendent Kingdom (2020), is an intimate portrayal of grief, care, and mental illness. The story is centred on Gifty, a 28-year-old African-American neuroscience PhD student who, during one of her mother’s depressive episodes, becomes her care-giver. The mother’s haunting presence in Gifty’s neatly organised life brings back memories of her absent father, her brother’s struggle with addiction, and her mother’s suicide attempt, traumatic events which forced Gifty to care for her family at a young age and which became the motivation behind her research on reward-seeking behaviours. Drawing on Joan Tronto’s (1993) ethics of care and Patricia Hill Collins’ (2000) Black feminist thought, in this article I discuss the ways in which Gifty’s experiences of caring for her loved ones and their struggles with mental illness affect her relationships with family, friends and colleagues, and with herself. I argue that these experiences, particularly regarding the mother-daughter relationship, are central to Gifty’s growth as a character; at first reserved and callous, Gifty is led to realise that, to take care of those she loves, she must let herself be taken care of

Biology · Kingdom · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · Psychology · South Asian Cinema and Culture