This is a rare multicultural perspective on disease,particularly cancer,in which the author takes on a journey through the medical establishments,cultural taboos,gender-tagged attitudes and personal stories of different civilizations.It could also be defined as a quest on how human logic relates to illness. The writing itself blends the diary,personal letters,poems and songs with excerpts from some of the foremost authorities in cancer research,producing an effect upon the reader akin to that which she experienced herself,as she moved back and forth between the emotional and physical shock of the cancer experience and the objective scientific data she uncovered.

She begins to find cancer everywhere in her physical environment:friends,relatives and people she has never met -some die. She finds a depth of friendship and support that she had never expected including that of her close companion.While writing her book she sent sections of it to friends,who commented on the text.These honest responses to her story add a further dimension.

The structure and content of the book are informed by her deep commitment to women,men,ecology and peace issues.As part of the journey she reads many books on the environment and cancer. Although she lives in the USA and France,the book takes the reader on physical journeys to many other cities including Paris,Tunis and Beirut.

Evelyn Accad learns that even in remission you have to
live with cancer every day.

‘In writing her story Accad has … given an intimate insider’s perspective, provided valuable information for consumers and described how she made difficult choices about treatment. Accad’s story is an important addition to the growing number of books written by women with breast cancer for all women.’ – Chris Croyden, Breast Cancer Action Group Newsletter

‘The Wounded Breast is an autobiography, a social commentary, and a multicultural analysis of the taboos surrounding cancer, women’s bodies , and sexual identity, as well as a psychological profile of those living with the disease’ – Cheryl Toman, World Literature Today

‘This book is an excellent combination of the personal and the political, written with skill and insight. I recommend ‘The Wounded Breast’ to any person who has had or still has cancer, to any personl who knows someone who has cancer, and to anyone who wants to ask more questions about cancer in the current atmosphere of silence’ – The Daily Planet

Deena Metzger ’s Endorsement
This book is at once a way of knowing and the thing known.Cancer,the great mystery and koan of our time has,as one of its qualities,the ability to awaken us.Accordingly,many have set out to relate their experiences or ideas about cancer,but no one that I know has so far attempted to know cancer so well as Evelyne Accad,to examine all its faces and deceptions,its underbelly,its shadow,its startling assaults manifesting in and overpowering the body,the psyche and the culture at large.When she was stricken,Evelyne Accad understood what she was up against and so refused to limit her investigation to a conventional text because,as the book makes clear,the “secret divinity pattern ” is essentially more powerful and significant than the “pretender to the throne.”

Thus Evelyne Accad has chosen to write in a feminist form choosing a multi-layered,multi-tongued, rigorous yet poetic,non-hierarchical,non-elitist alliance of voices in order to reveal what cannot be revealed by a single perspective alone.What she reveals about cancer and the process of suffering and healing is extraordinary but we are also indebted to her for expanding the nature of the discourse on illness and its social and political etiology.My hope is that the form,rigor,intimacy,honesty,and stunning intelligence of this book will be recognized and honored.Thank you Evelyne Accad for a formidable and generous text through which we can also examine our lives.

Evelyne Accad was born and raised in Beirut,Lebanon.She has been Professor at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana since 1974,in French,Comparative Literature,African Studies,Women ’s Studies,Middle East Studies,and the honours program.Her publications include:Blessures des Mots (1993);Sexuality and War (1990);Veil of Shame (1978)and she is also a contributor to Radically Speaking .She is also a songwriter and interpreter of both music and lyrics.




The Wounded Breast is recommended by HANYS BCDP Advisory Board