Literary Medicine: Brain Disease and Doctors in Novels, Theater, and Film

Description

Classical and modern literature is full of patients with interesting neurological, cognitive, or psychiatric diseases, often including detailed and accurate descriptions, which suggests the authors were inspired by observations of real people. In many cases these literary portrayals of diseases even predate their formal identification by medical science. Fictional literature encompasses nearly all kinds of disorders affecting the nervous system, with certain favorites such as memory loss and behavioral syndromes. There are even unique observations that cannot be found in scientific and clinical literature because of the lack of appropriate studies. Not only does literature offer a creative and humane look at disorders of the brain and mind, but just as authors have been inspired by medicine and real disorders, clinicians have also gained knowledge from literary depictions of the disorders they encounter in their daily practice. This book provides an amazing and fascinating look at neurological conditions, patients, and doctors in literature and film in a way which is both nostalgic and novel.

Informations

• Publié par: S. Karger AG
• Date de parution: 07 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9783318022728
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Literary Medicine: Brain Disease and Doctors in Novels, Theater, and Film
Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience
Vol. 31
Series Editor
J. Bogousslavsky Montreux
Literary Medicine: Brain Disease and Doctors in Novels, Theater, and Film
Volume Editors
J. Bogousslavsky Montreux
S. Dieguez Fribourg
49 figures, 9 in color, and 8 tables, 2013
Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience
Vols. 1-18 were published as Monographs in Clinical Neuroscience
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Julien Bogousslavsky, MD Center for Brain and Nervous System Diseases GSMN Neurocenter, Clinique Valmont CH-1823 Glion/Montreux (Switzerland)
Sebastian Dieguez, MD Laboratory for Cognitive and Neurological Sciences Neurology Unit Department of Medicine CH-1700 Fribourg (Switzerland)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Literary medicine: brain disease and doctors in novels, theater, and film / volume editors, J. Bogousslavsky, S. Dieguez.
p.; cm. -- (Frontiers of neurology and neuroscience, ISSN 1660-4431; v. 31)
Brain disease and doctors in novels, theater, and film
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-318-02271-1 (alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-3-318-02272-8 (e-ISBN)
I. Bogousslavsky, Julien. II. Dieguez, S. (Sebastian) III. Title: Brain disease and doctors in novels, theater, and film. IV. Series: Frontiers of neurology and neuroscience; v. 31. 1660-4431
[DNLM: 1. Brain Diseases. 2. Medicine in Literature. 3. Physicians. W1 MO568C v.31 2013 /WZ 330]
R836. A1
612.8'22--dc23
2013003768
Bibliographic Indices. This publication is listed in bibliographic services, including Current Contents ® and Index Medicus.
Disclaimer. The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publisher and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements in the book is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
Drug Dosage. The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any change in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
© Copyright 2013 by S. Karger AG, P. O. Box, CH-4009 Basel (Switzerland)
www.karger.com
Printed in Switzerland on acid-free and non-aging paper (ISO 9706) by Reinhardt Druck, Basel
ISSN 1660-4431
e-ISSN 1662-2804
ISBN 978-3-318-02271-1
e-ISBN 978-3-318-02272-8
Contents
Preface
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux); Dieguez, S. (Fribourg)
Madness in Blaise Cendrars’ Novels: Moravagine and Company
Tatu, L. (Besançon); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
Balzac’s Louis Lambert: Schizophrenia before Kraepelin and Bleuler
Dieguez, S. (Fribourg)
Hysteria in Fin de Siècle French Novels
Walusinski, O. (Brou)
The Nadja Case
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
The Great Neurosis of Dr. Joseph Gerard
Lefrère, J. -J. ; Rouillon, F. (Paris)
Psychopathic Characters in Fiction
Piechowski-Jozwiak, B. (Orpington/London); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
Misidentifications in Pirandello’s Plays and Short Stories
Paciaroni, M. ; Kilcline, T. (Perugia)
Doubles Everywhere: Literary Contributions to the Study of the Bodily Self
Dieguez, S. (Fribourg)
Van Gogh’s Disease in the Light of His Correspondence
Voskuil, P. H. A. (Oosterhout)
Migraine and Metaphor
Haan, J. (Leiderdorp/Leiden)
Stranger than Fiction: Literary and Clinical Amnesia
Dieguez, S. ; Annoni, J. -M. (Fribourg)
Alcoholism between Fiction and Reality
Carota, A. (Genolier); Calabrese, P. (Basel)
Protagonists with Parkinson’s Disease
Haan, J. (Leiderdorp/Leiden)
Some Movement Disorders
Perkin, G. D. (London)
Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s Novels
Voskuil, P. H. A. (Oosterhout)
Theater in Professor Charcot’s Galaxy
Poirier, J. (Paris); Philippon, J. (Lamorlaye)
Doctors in Balzac’s Work
Moulin, T. (Besançon)
Doctor Chekhov’s Doctors
Crommelynck, I. (Paris)
Marcel Proust’s Fictional Diseases and Doctors
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
Author Index
Subject Index
Preface
For most people, including neurologists and psychiatrists, the first contacts with brain disease and its consequences take place in reading novels or watching movies. Another initiation may also be through personal experience with a family member afflicted by a specific disorder, but a more scholarly experience is usually delayed until the academic years for future physicians and health professionals. Classical and modern literature is indeed full of patients with interesting neurological, cognitive, or psychiatric diseases, oftentimes including detailed and accurate descriptions, suggesting that the authors were inspired by observations made on real individuals.
In many cases, these literary portrayals of diseases even predate their formal identification by medical science. For instance, one of the best and most vivid reports of acute progressing stroke was written by Marcel Proust in In Search of Lost Time about the fatal disease of the narrator’s grandmother. Proust was the son of a famous physician and had heard the daily reporting of medical cases during the family meals from a very young age. Alexandre Dumas probably provided the first precise description of a locked-in syndrome in the case of Mr. Noirtier in The Count of Monte Cristo , and William Shakespeare’s plays are a source of a surprising number of various neurological and psychiatric cases. In Louis Lambert , Honoré de Balzac may have written the first accurate report of schizophrenia, several decades before Kraepelin and Bleuler provided the first modern descriptions of the condition.
In previous books devoted to neurological diseases in famous artists, writers, and musicians [ 1 - 3 ], we mentioned fascinating self-reports by famous novelists, such as Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz’s own account of his stroke in his diary, or the first known report of a transient ischemic attack by Stendhal in his correspondence to Fiore. However, fictional literature is much richer and encompasses nearly all kind of disorders affecting the nervous system, with certain favorites, such as memory loss and behavioral syndromes. There are even unique observations, which cannot be found in scientific and clinical literature, because of the lack of appropriate studies. A striking example is the extraordinary description of the instable psychological condition immediately preceding the acute entrance into chronic psychosis, reported in André Breton’s novel Nadja and in the correspondence of Léona Delcourt, i. e. Nadja herself.
Not only does literature offer a creative and humane look at disorders of the brain and mind, but just as authors have been inspired by medicine and real disorders, clinicians also have much to gain from literary depictions of the disorders they encounter in their daily practice. While the present coverage of literary medicine obviously is partial, it provides an amazing and fascinating look at conditions, patients, and doctors, in a way which is both reminiscence and novelty.
Julien Bogousslavsky , Montreux Sebastian Dieguez , Fribourg
References
1 Bogousslavsky J, Boller F (eds): Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists. Front Neurol Neurosci. Basel, Karger, 2005, vol 19.
2 Bogousslavsky J, Hennerici MG (eds): Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists - Part 2. Front Neurol Neurosci. Basel, Karger, 2007, vol 22.
3 Bogousslavsky J, Hennerici MG, Bäzner H, Bassetti C (eds): Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists - Part 3. Front Neurol Neurosci. Basel, Karger, 2010, vol 27.
Bogousslavsky J, Dieguez S (eds): Literary Medicine: Brain Disease and Doctors in Novels, Theater, and Film. Front Neurol Neurosci. Basel, Karger, 2013, vol 31, pp 1-9 (DOI: 10.1159/000343238)
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Madness in Blaise Cendrars’ Novels: Moravagine and Company
Laurent Tatu a , b Julisen Bogousslavsky c
Departments of a Neuromuscular Diseases and b Anatomy, CHU Jean-Minjoz, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France; c Center for Brain and Nervous System Diseases, GSMN Neurocenter, Clinique Valmont, Glion/Montreux, Switzerland
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Abstract
The literary work of Blaise Cendrars (1887-1961), né Frédéric Sauser, one of the major French-speaking authors of the 20th century, is imbued with references to neuropsychiatry. This theme i