Abstract

Barbara Klose–Ullmann’s book, written in German, Mein Körper Sagt Mir, Er Will Nicht Mehr Tanzen. Krankheit als Signal und Chance, grew partially out of her own experience with a potentially fatal illness, a brain tumor. Her diagnosis, her life-saving but also dangerous operation, her convalescence, and her successful return to an active life style brought about major changes in her outlook on illness and on life. When Klose–Ullmann then met a friend who had recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she decided to explore how others coped with illness and to write about her findings. This book differs from others about illness in its scope and intent. It is a compendium of interviews with seriously ill people, from a variety of backgrounds. All chapters are succinct first-person accounts of their experiences and reliance on their own methods for dealing with illness. The interviews follow people from diagnosis through treatment to often difficult life changes. The range of illnesses described, and the differences among the interviewees, give readers a broad perspective. A bibliography at the end of the book lists other helpful health-related literature