Thinking Space: Molloy Literary Geographies 5(1) 2019 7-10 7 Collaborative Embodiment: Literary Geographies of Female Health and Illness Deborah Snow Molloy University of Glasgow d.molloy.2@research.gla.ac.uk _____________________________________ Introduction When thinking about the scope for interdisciplinary collaboration, it is always interesting when one comes across the same term being used across various disciplines, as it suggests a shared vocabulary ripe for exploration. Embodiment is one such term. Originally a Western philosophical concept regarding the Fall, embodiment has come to focus more on the nature of subjectivity, or, as Justin E.H. Smith puts it, ‘the extent to which one’s own subjective experience of the world is forged or inflected by the particular sort of body one has’ (2017: 1). If we take this quotation as the starting point of discussion, we can pinpoint three particular ideas of note. Firstly, that embodiment relates to our subjective experience, a key-component of much literature. Secondly, that the focus of that experience is in and of the world, a distinctly geographical concept. And thirdly, that bodies can come in different ‘sorts’, familiar ground to anyone with an interest in any kind of ‘othering’ be that in relation to race, gender, class, ability or fitness. Building on these three ideas of subjectivity, geography and bodily matter(s), I will consider ways in which literary geography, feminist theory and health geography might collaborate and co-mingle around the concept of embodiment. Subjective Literary Geography Important work is being undertaken regarding subjectivity and the body within the field of literary geography. Sheila Hones’ study of the aural elements of Colum McCann’s novel Let the Great World Spin investigates the importance of going beyond the visual when considering