Literature and medicine

摘要

Samuel Beckett's play Krapp's last tape provides valuable insights in to the isolation experienced by many elderly patients and highlights the potential contribution of the passage of time.Isolation is a common experience for older people. Despite its recognised impact on wellbeing, morbidity and mortality, standard medical textbooks in contrast to the arts and literature pay little attention to it. This paper draws on my experience of Samuel Beckett's play Krapp's last tape to identify an aspect of isolation related to the passage of time. The suffering which may arise as a result is agonisingly portrayed by an old man isolated between a past he wishes to forget and a future which is unthinkable.