ABSTRACT
The medium of literature offers something uniquely different to other media sources such as television or film. While these other types of media communicate through the combined modes of narrative, imagery and sound, literature provides us with messages primarily through the narrative format. It is in a sense left to the reader to construct their own perceived images and understanding from the text laid out before them. The writer acts as a guide, evoking feelings and creating meaning through the richness of their narrative. It is a medium that has limitless potential, constrained only by the limitations of the writer's craft or the reader's imagination. The literary genre has the potential for a deeper level of engagement with characters than that offered by other media formats. This is achieved through the ability to take the reader directly into a person's inner world connecting with their thoughts and feelings. While other media types rely primarily upon external cues to achieve this, the world of literature has the ability to take the receiver more directly into that person's world. Film and television, for example, provide glimpses of the inner world through facial gestures and expressiveness of speech, leaving the viewer in many instances to form their own interpretation of what a person's experience might be. Aspects such as frustration, rage or upset might be conveyed clearly enough although without all the intricacies and ambiguities of individual thoughts and feelings. The style of writing utilised (e.g. first or third person narrative) plays a significant role in the ways in which readers engage with the theme of mental illness and will be explored later in this chapter, paying particular attention to the type of relationship fostered, either of a connecting or distancing kind.
