Marian Finucane’s unforgettable radio interview with her dying friend Nuala O’Faolain on a Saturday morning in April 2008 revealed a spirit wiped out by a brutal cancer prognosis. I didn’t know her, but Nuala’s despair broke my heart. I began my search, confident that I would find the perfect poem or prose to comfort her, but it ended abruptly with her death just 19 days later.
My own cancer diagnosis in 2014 reignited my desire to discover deep writing about this life-changing experience. A personal quest transformed into the concept for a book that introduces patients, loved ones, and caregivers to 50 incredible treasures from the world of cancer literature. Comprising novels, memoirs, poems, short stories, and more, The Breath of Consolation: Finding Solace in Cancer Literature presents works that empower, empathize, and comfort.
Choosing a good book about cancer is easy, right? After all, libraries and bookstores are full of books on the subject. In reality, it’s a tremendous challenge. A large body of work is like searching for rare plants in a vast and ever-expanding jungle. We need guidance to quickly and reliably write texts that highlight the complexity of the cancer experience and, in doing so, help us endure suffering, find meaning, and restore hope.
I was unfazed by the task at hand. After all, I was a public librarian. Cancer abruptly ended my career, but also my faith in the power of reading and the skill that connects bookworms with great writers.
The appalling heterogeneity of cancer ensures that each individual’s experience with the difficult and sometimes disfiguring physical effects of this disease and its treatment is unique. However, human responses to the psychological, emotional, and spiritual trauma following a cancer diagnosis are universal. It’s as if our world has been blown apart. It seems impossible to put into words what we are experiencing. Troublesome spiritual and psychological questions plague us. Given how precious life is, how do we accept death? Recognize it, accept the instability and unpredictability of life, and make meaningful use of the time we are given. Can I find some way to live like this?
( “My cancer treatment was not fun and quite aggressive. But I remained positive.”opens in new window )
The emotional challenges cancer poses to friendships and family relationships add further misery. Feelings of helplessness, weakness, and loneliness are inevitable. While the psychological care of family, friends, and professionals all play an important role, there is another powerful resource readers have at their fingertips when looking for insight, meaning, and perspective.
Cancer literature is really important. This work tells the truth in the complexity of what it means to live with cancer and face death. This allows readers to see things more clearly and understand how to truly live. Immerse yourself in great cancer writing. Don’t worry. This is not a pathological act. You’ll find brutally honest accounts of extraordinary suffering. But you’ll also find writing filled with hard-earned wisdom, gratitude, and yes, even joy. Paradoxically, in facing suffering and death, we celebrate life and all that makes it rich and meaningful.
And this is the crux. This is literature with power and purpose. It contains lessons about suffering and death that everyone can learn. Even better, these lessons apply not only to our final crossroads, but to every crossroads in life. Edna O’Brien’s explanation that profound writings emerge from “an age of hollowed out hearts” should also apply to the act of reading. When a struggling writer meets a reader, the joyful connection, the sense of closeness, the feeling of no longer alone in a dark place, is deeply comforting. It’s as if you and the writer are colluding, creating meaning together. Dealing with cancer and death becomes less scary. Self-understanding and acceptance are finally within reach.
It was difficult to decide how best to present the literary gold I was discovering. Readers who are battling cancer find that their ability to concentrate is often taken away. As our physical and mental health rapidly deteriorates, old reading habits can become disrupted and even derailed. The desire to read waxes and wanes and is often hampered by the difficulty of finding a suitable book at once.
The solutions I’ve found to these problems are multifaceted. “Breath of Solace” is an anthology, a collection, a treasure chest, and a reader’s companion. It is organized around five main genres: memoir, novel, short story, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Each is a sanctuary and a place of peace. You can immerse yourself in your favorite genre or venture into less familiar territory. Open it anywhere and read just the excerpts and poems. No matter where you end up, you’ll find commonalities, so let’s dig deeper.
When we feel trapped in despair and disconnected from the world, the great alchemy of gunlighting can free us.
A careful gender-neutral selection process creates a near-perfect balance, giving marginalized voices a voice. Featuring cancer literature from three centuries, six continents, and 13 countries. The essays present remarkable details, carefully selected excerpts, and deep interpretations of each work.
From the beginning, it was clear that certain books were definitely going to be featured. The inclusion of Tolstoy’s novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” and Tilly Olsen’s short story “Tell Me a Riddle” was never a problem. So is Audre Lorde’s groundbreaking memoir, which criticized cancer culture and changed cancer literature forever. The works of writers with towering presences have taken over, including personal favorites such as JM Coetzee, Pat Barker, Helen Dunmore and Elizabeth Strout. It’s nice, but not at all surprising, that seven Irish writers are featured: Jennifer Johnston, John McGahn, Leah Mills, Elaine Feeney, Ciaran Carson, Mary Costello and CS Lewis.
I was very happy to add the works of neglected novelists, poets, memoirists, and journalists. The ones closest to my heart are the poets Mary Bradish O’Connor and Philip Hodgins. Both were very conscious of their Irish roots, but are still largely unknown here in Ireland. I hope my book will gain new readers who will find comfort in their words. It would be great if this encouraged Irish public libraries to stock the work as well.
There’s something so magical about the way my adventure has brought me full circle. Breath of Solace concludes with an essay about Oliver Sacks’ book Gratitude. If I had to choose one piece that I think gave Nuala O’Faolain some much-needed solace, it would be Sacks’ remarkable resignation statement.
( Manchan Magan talks about living with cancer: ‘Death has always been very comfortable for me’opens in new window )
As diverse as their creators are, all 50 works share certain traits. They are all unflinchingly facing the pain and suffering of cancer and breaking the culture of silence around death. Critical concerns are brought out and put on center stage. Writers grappling with existential crises bring clarity and insight to spiritual and philosophical issues.
The emotional challenges that cancer poses to friendships and family relationships are incisively explored. Trickling issues such as the tyranny of positive thinking, quack medicine, battlefield language around cancer, and the role of patient advocacy are all addressed. The selected authors do not simplify the cancer experience. Rather, they embrace its complexity, distill hard-earned wisdom, and amplify it.
I began with a noble ambition: to create the definitive introductory collection of cancer literature: the final word. I quickly realized that this was a foolhardy mission. My compilations are just starting points, subjective choices that reflect who I am and the experiences that have shaped me.
An important objective is to ensure that readers do not lose sight of important works. Whatever the type of work, the selected works are usually hotly debated and sometimes controversial. Pointing out absences or disagreeing with choices is simply part of the fun. I hope that this book will generate similar criticism. Even better, it might inspire others to build new bridges to great cancer literature that will delight readers. After all, those of us living and dying with cancer are the ultimate beneficiaries.
The entrance to an ancient Egyptian library was inscribed with the words: “A place of healing for souls.” This is a fitting representation of what librarians throughout history have aspired to create. It also perfectly captures what I was trying to accomplish with this book regarding cancer literature. When we feel trapped in despair and disconnected from the world, the great alchemy of gunlighting can set us free. It heals our despair. Reclaim your potential to become, as Emily Bronte so beautifully put it, an “unchained soul” with the strength to withstand whatever cancer may throw at you.
Josephine Brady served as Cavan County Librarian for over 20 years. The Breath of Consolation: Finding Solace in Cancer Literature is her first book
