From harmful ‘cures’ to acceptance: Reclaiming care through queer-feminist refusal in Yael Inokai's Ein simpler Eingriff (2022)

Abstract

Swiss author Yael Inokai's novel Ein simpler Eingriff (2022) explores the various meanings and associations of care and caregiving. The novel demonstrates a particular sensitivity to the challenges of care work in nursing contexts and to the relationship between care and harm. This article draws on approaches from feminist care ethics, queer studies, and the politics of refusal to show how Inokai's text can be read as a novel of lesbian development that depicts its protagonist's journey from naïve hope for a cure to awareness of the complexity of care and, simultaneously, from shame to acceptance of her queer identity. Through acts of refusal, Inokai's novel decouples care from notions of a “cure” linked to heteronormative patriarchal power. It thereby creates space for a queer-feminist ethics of care that is attuned to the needs of others, minimizes harm, and emphasizes relationality and acceptance.