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The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry

When we feel intense pain, the world vanishes. We, for that moment, feel and know nothing other than that wash of pain. The world, quite literally, ceases to exist. That is the central premise of Scarry's book. The first half alone, which outlines this premise, should be required reading for anyone in the medical profession. Pain is an entity in itself-world-destroying and overwhelming. In the second half of the book, Scarry outlines her thesis-that when intense pain does destroy one's world, he or she in susceptible to world "re-making," usually by one who inflicts pain. This is a central idea in torture and war. The body, for Scarry, is an emblem, ad we use it as such constantly. A soldier's body ceases to be a person. It is, instead, a direct sign of one nation's superiority. Anyone interested in any kind of peace movement, as well and anyone simply wishing to understand one of the darker sides of the world's machinations, would be well advised to read Scarry's work. - Anonymous