3-D Relationality: Horizontal, Vertical and Textual Connectedness in Christiane Singer's Derniers fragments d'un long voyage. (1st October 2020) - Owen McCullough, Jordan
ABSTRACT: Human beings are inherently relational and never is this more apparent than at the end of life. Yet our understanding of this relationality is often limited, as we think only in terms of the interpersonal, disregarding the other relational dimensions. Christiane Singer's end-of-life memoir, Derniers fragments d'un long voyage (2007), calls us to reconsider this model of connectedness. As 'le seul ouvrage de langue française où l'auteur illustre de façon détaillée ce qu'est une mise en pratique […] des méthodes fondamentales de toute spiritualité et ce qui en constitue le fruit' (Juguet 2013, 88), Derniers fragments offers a unique perspective on relationality at the end of life, adding both a vertical and a textual dimension to our understanding of the concept. This article will therefore advocate for a conceptualisation of relationality that goes beyond the established, horizontal model; expounding the benefits of three-way connectedness, on the horizontal, vertical and textual planes. By examining four key aspects of Singer's end-of-life journey—connection, accompagnement, transcendence and partage —this article will advance a multi-dimensional model of connectedness, as it emerges in Singer's text, and invite us to (re)consider the value of relationality, particularly the vertical (or spiritual), within holistic palliative care provision.