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The Embodiment of Vulnerability

A Case Study of the Life and Love of Leo Janáek and his Opera The Makropulos Case

School of Nursing, King’s College, London

Clare Williams

School of Nursing, King’s College, London

In this article we focus upon the embodiment of vulnerability as an area in which medicine, society and the humanities can be profitably conjoined. We illustrate our argument with two interrelated case studies of narratives of the embodiment of ageing and longevity. First, we draw upon Leo Janáek’s opera The Makropulos Case (1926) as a locus for debates about human longevity. Second, we discuss 70-year-old Janáek’s decade of unrequited love for a woman 37 years younger than himself, through an examination of their intimate letters. We suggest that both the opera and elements of Janáek’s biography illuminate the passionate emotions that are often hidden behind ‘the mask of ageing’. Finally, we propose that a focus on the embodiment of vulnerability is a productive catalyst for research on narratives of ageing.

Key Words: ageing • biography • embodiment • emotions • love • narratives • opera

Body & Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, 27-41 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1357034X05056189


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