Metavivorship and Narrative Repair in Teva Harrison’s <i>In-Between Days</i> (2016)

Abstract

Teva Harrison’s autobiographical graphic memoir In-Between Days (2016), which chronicles her experiences living with a metastatic breast cancer diagnosis, is a hallmark text of graphic medicine that must be approached from a framework that combines knowledge of disease process and comics art. As she reflects on her rounds of treatment, her symptoms, her anxieties, and her everyday experiences since diagnosis, Harrison combines text and image in innovative page layouts that exploit the artistic possibilities of the medium. Attention is paid to paratextual elements of comics, panel shape and sequence, and word-image interactions, with reference to comics theory and previous work on cancer in graphic novels. Giving voice to her individualized patient experience, Harrison also crafts a memoir with pedagogical value for comics scholars and healthcare providers alike. By applying the concepts of “metavivorship” (Tometich et al., 2020) and “narrative repair” (Nielsen, 2019) to In-Between Days, analysis highlights the creator’s efforts to reconcile body and mind as she lives with metastatic disease.