Memory and forgetting: An analysis of two Scandinavian autobiographies about alzheimers

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze two Scandinavian autobiographies about Alzheimers, in order to focus on how illness experiences of dementia are conveyed from the patient’s point of view, in contrast to previous research that have been interested in caregiving narratives. The autobiographies analyzed are the Swedish actress Nina Gunke’s Innan jag glömmer (2022) and the Norwegian advertising guru and author Ingebrigt Steen Jensen’s Før jeg forsvinner. Om å leve et liv med Alzheimer (2022). The article focuses on how Gunke and Jensen both in terms of content and form depict themselves in the light of the Alzheimer’s diagnosis and especially how they in their autobiographies relate to the biomedical story of dementia where the sick person is often regarded as a living dead or as a pale image of his/her old self.