In this title about a hospital experience the text and visual
images offer parallel narratives that resonate poignantly with each
other. Adriaan van Zyl's series of more than 20 paintings portrays
a patient's experience from waiting room to ward giving a quietly
disturbing view of the soullessness of hospitals in general.
Marlene van Niekerk's accompanying story is a narrative by JP Wiid,
a lonely man who is diagnosed with cancer of the liver just before
his retirement. The night before a scheduled operation he starts
writing a "memorandum" about an experience he had during his first
stay at the hospital - sharing a ward with two enigmatic men in a
state of postnarcotic euphoria, he overheard their strange
conversation, one which was to have a profound effect on his life.
He writes how, in the ensuing four months, he becomes a regular
visitor to the library, anxious to learn more about the diverse
concepts he had been exposed to for the first time. Everything new
which Wiid learns about the world comforts him and helps him to
accept his fate. Most importantly he makes a friend for the first
time - an eccentric but very helpful librarian. While writing the
memorandum, Wiid makes a life-changing decision - not to have the
operation the next day. He chooses instead to make the rest of his
life worth living by filling it with knowledge about cultures,
structures, histories, literature and music. In the process he
discovers his true self - and his true vocation.
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