Introduction

Abstract

The introduction gives an overview on sociopolitical and research-related developments regarding dementia, and attempts explanations for why the interest in dementia of critical scholarship continues to be very limited and particularly focused on caregiver accounts. It illustrates that an understanding of the obvious neglect of dementia patient narratives sheds some light onto the ethical implications and challenges of critically reading such narratives: these narratives seem least of all fit to match classical survivor illness literature, and serious impairment in the ability to tell or understand stories has been taken as motivation to neglect patient narratives. Approaches highlighting the importance of pre-narrative identity and a growing body of psycho-philosophical work demand a closer scrutiny of patient narratives, which would also amplify their author-narrators’ advocacy.