On the Illness Writing and Literary Healing in Michael Cunningham’s The Hours

Abstract

This paper focuses on Michael Cunningham’s novel The Hours, analyzing the diseases portrayed in the novel to explore their cultural symbolic significance and the healing function of literature. On one hand, the paper first examines Virginia Woolf’s mental illness and Richard’s AIDS, revealing that disease is not merely a physical phenomenon, but also a cultural vehicle for moral judgment and social exclusion, particularly the stigmatization of AIDS within the homosexual community. On the other hand, the paper explores the healing effects of literary reading and creation on individual trauma. By analyzing how Woolf achieves emotional catharsis through her writing, how Laura awakens her self-identity through Mrs. Dalloway, and how Cunningham reconstructs his mother’s fate through writing, this paper demonstrates the unique role of literature in the reconstruction of self-identity, emotional release, and psychological healing.