I feel a bit, ambivalent?, about this interview. It was mostly about his two books, although David gave a very good description of the cognitive challenges of ME/CFS. I think the casual listener would have understood that ME/CFS is very debilitating, and the interviewer was, as she has been for a number of other ME/CFS related interviews, sympathetic. She expressed genuine admiration for David's achievements, regardless of, and despite, the challenges created by the illness. I wonder if she has had some personal experience of the illness.
However, I'm not sure what impression the interview would have made on listeners who know little about ME/CFS, or have a vague idea that it's largely a psychosomatic condition. The interviewer, as many interviewers are, was keen to develop a theme, and the theme she was pushing was 'physicality as an embodiment of trauma'. It was never explicitly applied to David's illness, but I felt there was an inference. There was little detail given about David's history, but he did talk about having problems coping with the success that his first book brought him, and having mental health challenges, compounded by the death of a sibling and a heart attack, followed by his ME/CFS worsening. The cause and effect was not clear, or whether the ME/CFS was there prior to the mental health difficulties. And, in any normal interview, it would not need to have been.
I'm aware I evaluate people who appear in the media to talk about their ME/CFS against a very high standard. I guess it's a product of the lack of understanding of ME/CFS, and the rarity of ME/CFS appearing in the media, and the fact that every presentation of ME/CFS in the media does affect how I and my son and many other people I care about are treated.
David Coventry said that he has nearly finished his next book, 'auto fiction' - a fictionalised account of his life, with ME/CFS front and centre. He mentioned that it will not be documentary-like, unlike the film Unrest. He spoke very highly of the Unrest film, and I know many people with ME/CFS also have high regard for that film, but I have always had a different view. And so I feel a little concern about David's forthcoming book.
It sounds as though David's books are very good, and he obviously thinks about things deeply. I think he has developed enough of a profile that his next book will get quite a lot of media attention in New Zealand. I hope that's a good thing.
However, I'm not sure what impression the interview would have made on listeners who know little about ME/CFS, or have a vague idea that it's largely a psychosomatic condition. The interviewer, as many interviewers are, was keen to develop a theme, and the theme she was pushing was 'physicality as an embodiment of trauma'. It was never explicitly applied to David's illness, but I felt there was an inference. There was little detail given about David's history, but he did talk about having problems coping with the success that his first book brought him, and having mental health challenges, compounded by the death of a sibling and a heart attack, followed by his ME/CFS worsening. The cause and effect was not clear, or whether the ME/CFS was there prior to the mental health difficulties. And, in any normal interview, it would not need to have been.
I'm aware I evaluate people who appear in the media to talk about their ME/CFS against a very high standard. I guess it's a product of the lack of understanding of ME/CFS, and the rarity of ME/CFS appearing in the media, and the fact that every presentation of ME/CFS in the media does affect how I and my son and many other people I care about are treated.
David Coventry said that he has nearly finished his next book, 'auto fiction' - a fictionalised account of his life, with ME/CFS front and centre. He mentioned that it will not be documentary-like, unlike the film Unrest. He spoke very highly of the Unrest film, and I know many people with ME/CFS also have high regard for that film, but I have always had a different view. And so I feel a little concern about David's forthcoming book.
It sounds as though David's books are very good, and he obviously thinks about things deeply. I think he has developed enough of a profile that his next book will get quite a lot of media attention in New Zealand. I hope that's a good thing.
. That book's now on my ever lengthening listening list.
