A Posthuman Autopathographical Study of Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air

A. Edwin Jeevaraj   
Guest Faculty, Department of English Studies, Central University of Tamilnadu, Thiruvarur & Associate Professor (Former), Department of English, School of Arts and Humanities, Christ Deemed to be University, Bangalore.

^{Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 18, Issue 2, 2026. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v18n2.06
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Abstract

This paper examines the memoir When Breath Becomes Air (2016) by Paul Kalanithi, an Indo-American neurosurgeon, as a unique posthuman autopathographical narrative. Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air, an illness memoir, can be read in multiple ways as Kalanithi’s approach to his memoir is unconventional in many ways. It portrays Kalanithi’s confrontation with terminal cancer as a patient and as a neurosurgeon who treats it. It deals with Kalanithi’s encounter with cancer, his ways to navigate his existential crisis, and his search for the meaning of life in the face of an inevitable end. The title itself, When Breath Becomes Air, connotes meaning related to Indian and Western religious-philosophical traditions. Previous researchers examined this text through the frameworks of trauma studies, illness narratives, the medical humanities, existentialism, and posthumanism. This study addresses the gap and approaches Kalanithi’s memoir as a Post-human autopathography, drawing on the concepts of David T. Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder and on the theories of illness narrative discussed in The Wounded Storyteller by Arthur W. Frank. It also explores how Kalanithi redefines his perspectives about embodiment, identity, agency, and life after the psychic rupture caused by his diagnosis.

Keywords: Autopathography, Posthumanism, Illness Narrative, Wounded Storytelling, Quest Narrative, Embodiment, Agency, Identity.