The Transitivity of Shame: Richard Selzer's "Imelda"

In the world of medicine, shame's potential is ever-present and attempts to keep it at bay may only induce it all the more intensely. In this short story by the often-anthologized physician-writer Richard Selzer, the narrator witnesses a surgery to repair a young girl's cleft palate that leads to her untimely death. Later, the narrator realizes that the surgeon performed reconstructive surgery on the girl's corpse. Arguably, the surgeon has attempted not only to repair the girl's face, but to preserve his own social face from shame as well. And while the narrator may want to absolve the surgeon from such a dubious act, in doing so he reveals his own shameful complicity. Selzer's short story thus demonstrates how shame is transitive, an affect that crosses borders and saturates all those who come into its contact.