Psychological distress and diagnostic phase of cancer in Helen Garner’s The Spare Room

Abstract

The Spare Room is an extraordinary novel from one of Australia's most admired writers to tell a powerful story about two women. This literary work is emotional complexity and uncensored empathy with pain, joy, ambiguity and sense of loss that is part of dying experience. It recounts two women quest for meaning in the face of loneliness, depression, disability, and loss, all intensified by a cancer diagnosis. The novel draws heavily on both events and details from Garner's life. This paper tends the manifestation that characterizes the psychological distress during the diagnostic phase of cancer