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The diving bell meets the butterfly: identity lost and re-membered
1Center for Clinical and Research Ethics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, USA. denise.m.dudzinski@vanderbilt.edu
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics
|May 4, 2001
Abstract:
Jean Dominique Bauby, former editor of Elle, suffered a stroke to his brain stem that left him with locked-in syndrome. Subsequently, through blinking his left eye, he writes his memoir of this experience, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. This paper explores the meaning of embodiment, especially as one's body bears upon one's personal identity. It explores the various challenges and threats to selfhood that result from Bauby's experience and recounts how Bauby rises to the challenge through his memory and imagination.