Articulations of the chasm between ideal and attainable forms of care surfacing throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have highlighted the proliferation of unceremonious deaths associated with inequitable conditions. This paper reconsiders the preposterous temporality of pandemic care by following corpses in and out of clinical space. Written from the perspective of a MD/PhD student’s encounter with a corpse replacing the patient on the medicine ward prior to pandemic onset, this paper asks how corpses might interrupt narratives of clinical care. Sifting through Eugène Ionesco’s 1954 play “Amédée,” Édouard Glissant’s rejection of the tragic heroine, Achille Mbembe’s positing of viscerality as autopsy, and David Marriott’s theorization of blackness as corpsing among other engagements, I conceptualize how corpses might refigure clinical spaces as preposterous realms wherein distinctions between a before and after falter. Considering the continuities between an apparent before and after, I argue that the contemporary concerns punctuating the pandemic as a unique period in time might not be as contemporary as they first appear. Taking cues from literary analysis and fictional works, I engage the corpse as a figure that prompts a rethinking of what might constitute ideal as well as failed care. I argue that corpses in clinical space signal a critique of the ideal narrative arc, one that centers the medical provider as heroine/hero in the midst of tragedy. Turning to the corpse as an interruptive figure, I ask what this dominant narrative might ultimately demand of its cast of characters—protégé, provider, and patient.

在冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行期间，理想的护理形式与可实现的护理形式之间的鸿沟凸显了与不公平条件相关的非礼性死亡的激增。本文通过跟踪尸体进出临床空间，重新考虑大流行病护理的荒谬时间性。本文从一名医学博士/博士生在大流行病爆发前在内科病房遇到代替病人的尸体的角度出发，提出了尸体如何可能打断临床护理叙述的问题。仔细审视尤涅斯库 1954 年的戏剧《Amédée》、爱德华·格利桑特 (Édouard Glissant) 对悲剧女主角的拒绝、阿奇勒·姆本贝 (Achille Mbembe) 将本能视为尸检的假设，以及大卫·马里奥特 (David Marriott) 将黑人视为尸体的理论以及其他参与，我概念化了尸体如何将临床空间重新塑造为荒谬的领域，其中动摇之前和之后的区别。考虑到明显的前后之间的连续性，我认为，当代将大流行视为一个独特时期的担忧可能并不像它们最初出现的那样具有当代性。从文学分析和虚构作品中汲取灵感，我将尸体视为一个形象，促使人们重新思考什么可能构成理想的护理以及失败的护理。我认为，临床空间中的尸体标志着对理想叙事弧的批评，这种叙事弧将医疗提供者作为悲剧中的女英雄/英雄。转向作为一个中断性人物的尸体，我问这种占主导地位的叙事最终可能会对它的角色——保护者、提供者和病人——提出什么要求。