Illness Narrative in The Critical Condition of the So-Called K: An Interdisciplinary Approach between Literature and Medicine

Abstract

This study explores illness narrative in the Saudi novel The Critical Condition of the So-Called K through an interdisciplinary perspective that combines literary and medical approaches. The research examines how the novel represents the experience of cancer not merely as a biological condition, but as a deeply human and psychological crisis affecting personal identity, family relations, and social interaction. Through first-person narration, the protagonist communicates the emotional and physical burden of illness, while the narrative structure employs medical language, flashback, and temporal fragmentation to intensify the representation of suffering and uncertainty. The study further analyzes the role of narrative spaces such as the hospital, the home, and the private room in shaping the symbolic and emotional dimensions of the text. These spaces transform illness into an existential experience that extends beyond the medical sphere into questions of selfhood, vulnerability, and human endurance. The findings reveal that the novel presents a distinctive model in contemporary Saudi fiction by integrating literary creativity with medical discourse, thereby establishing a meaningful intersection between literature and medicine. The study concludes that the novel succeeds in transforming the experience of illness into a complex narrative and emotional structure that reflects both the psychological depth of suffering and the broader human dimensions of disease.