Abstract
At the turn of the 20th century, the notion of literature as a pastime seemed to fade in favor of a restorative and therapeutic one. After formalism, literature regained a form of transitivity through the desire to bond and heal. The therapeutic power of literature may date back to the 1980s, when AIDS autopathographies became widespread. From illness narratives to narrative medicine, writing and reading began to be conceived as therapeutic tools: alongside works seeking to exorcise or, at least, reshape trauma, amateur practices of personal writing with a palliative aim developed.
From bibliotherapy to the literature of care, the relationship between literature and medicine continues to evolve: contemporary literature is marked by confidence in the cathartic power of writing and in the metabolic and purgative faculties of reading, although other conceptions remain, testifying to the need for the irreparable.
