One of the seminar organizers joins me. "Is Yvonne giving you a hard time?" My nemesis is none other than the cadaver beheader. As if turns out, she's also the lab manager, the person responsible when things go wrong, such as writers fainting and/or getting sick to their stomach and then going home and writing books that refer to anatomy lab managers as beheaders.
In the narrative, the speaker comments on an interaction with an organizer of a seminar who asks if Yvonne, the lab manager, is causing trouble. Yvonne is depicted as an intimidating figure, humorously described as a "cadaver beheader." This characterization adds a layer of tension to the atmosphere, especially since the lab environment can be stressful for many participants.
Yvonne's role as lab manager makes her responsible for any mishaps that occur during the sessions, such as writers becoming faint or ill. This reflects a larger theme in Mary Roach's book, "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers," as it explores the sometimes grim realities of working in an anatomy lab. The mention of writers going home to create narratives about such experiences highlights the intersection of life, death, and the morbid curiosity that often surrounds the study of cadavers.
