144 RüdigerKunow
coming like a bolt out of the blue. Representations of such an
inconceivable event, however, cannot capture or reenact the evental
character of such a visitation. Only rarely are eyewitness accounts
available, most narratives are produced (long) after the fact, and this is
trueevenoftextsposingaseyewitnessaccountsuchasDefoe'sJournal
of the Plague Year(1722). In the gap thus opening up between event
and its representation(s), there is space for backtracking hindsight, for
investing what seemed to be a rupture in the overall order with second-
degree continuities, causes (preferably hidden ones) for what presented
itselfatfirstsightasmereeffect(buteffectofwhat?).
In the previous segment, I have used Molly Caldwell Crosby's
AmericanPlague(2006) for my narration of the 1878 Memphis yellow
fever epidemic. I return to her book, a good example of the ever more
popular genre of nonfiction writing,^91 in order to discuss how and to
whatendadiseasenarrativelikehersutilizesthegapbetweeneventand
representation, and to what purpose. As one opensAmerican Plague,
one is immediately struck by a thematic leap-frogging of sorts between
the ostensible focus, the Memphis epidemic ("Prologue: A House
BoardedShut")andcontextualorincidentalinformation(flaggedbythe
titleAmerican Plague). That Crosby should make the fever a uniquely
American property, as this title suggests, is here a matter of minor
interest over against the larger question of which "ontological and
epistemic choices with distinct ideological and even specifically
politicalimplications"(White,Contentix,xi)guidesuchchoice.
Molly Crosby opens her account (17-106) with an extensive
description of an event that was essentially unrelated to the fever
outbreak, namely the Mardi Gras carnival (19-33 plus illustrations)
which preceded it. The detailed evocation of the preparations, the
parades, the principal actors, the decorations, etc. is at one point briefly
interrupted by an intervention by the narrative voice, reminding the
reader that "the greatest American urban disaster to date awaited them
[the Mardi Gras revelers]" and that it would claim the life of one of the
principalactorsinthefestivities.Whilethisinterventionalreadysounds
an ominous note, the concluding paragraph of that section is even more
(^91) The genre has been represented in this book by Skloot'sImmortal Life of
HenriettaLacksorM.Crosby'sAmericanPlague.