Is there truth in fiction? A critical, interdisciplinary analysis of the language of dementia fiction

As human beings, we need narratives to help us to make sense of the world, particularly when the story is a sad one such as the case with a neurodegenerative condition like dementia (Bitenc, 2020). In this paper, we share our experience of working together across the disciplines of social gerontology and linguistics to analyze how readers respond to internal perspectives of fictional characters with dementia. An aim of the study is to use fiction to better understand the internal lives of people living with dementia. Given the potential of imaginative writing to mediate and construct a reality (Zeilig, 2011, p. 22) we have engaged in a linguistic rather than literary evaluation of dementia fiction. The project uses extracts from twelve novels containing first-hand accounts of fictional characters with dementia to explore how readers with varying personal experiences of dementia relate to stories, scenarios and relationships of fictional characters. Readers were purposely sampled for separate reading groups – student social workers; members of the general public; carers of people with dementia; and people living with dementia. Over a six-week period they engaged in facilitated group discussions of the extracts. This paper presents findings from the analysis of the resulting transcripts. Readers generally endorse the fictional characters and their experiences as ‘truthful’ narratives and provide some insight into how people with dementia and carers manage self-doubt and personal relationships when living with dementia. These findings suggest that fictional narratives are a potentially useful means of understanding diverse lived experiences of dementia.