Idioms of Distress

Lilian R. Furst

Description

This interdisciplinary study examines the enigmatic category of psychosomatic disorders as articulated in medical writings and represented in literary works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Six key works are analyzed: Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin, Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, Arthur Miller's Broken Glass, Brian O'Doherty's The Strange Case of Mademoiselle P., and Pat Barker's Regeneration. Each is a case study in detection as the hidden sources of bodily ills are uncovered in intra- or interpersonal conflicts such as guilt, family tensions, and marital discord. The book fosters a better understanding of these puzzling disorders by revealing how they function simultaneously as masks and as manifestations of inner suffering.
Preface

Hiding and Seeking Distress

1. Speaking through the Body

2. Swings of the Historical Pendulum

3. The Mysterious Leap

4. Literary Patients

Metaphors of Distress

5. "A Strange Sympathy betwixt Soul and Body": Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850)

6. Nerves: At the Interstices of Physiology and Psychology: Emile Zola, Thérèse Raquin (1867)

7. "A Sick Spot on the Body of our Family": Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks (1900)

8. "Legs Turned to Butter": Arthur Miller, Broken Glass (1994)

9. Substance and Shadow: Brian O'Doherty, The Strange Case of Mademoiselle P. (1992)

10. Shell Shock: Pat Barker, Regeneration (1991)

11. Outing the Distress

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Médecine
• Médecine Générale
• Literary theory
• Psychology
• History of medicine

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791487594
• Langue: English

Extrait

IDIOMS OF DISTRESS

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Idioms of Distress

Psychosomatic Disorders in Medical and Imaginative Literature

By Lilian R. Furst

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Furst, Lilian R. Idioms of distress : psychosomatic disorders in medical and imaginative literature / Lilian R. Furst. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5557-2 (hbk.: alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5558-0 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Medicine, Psychosomatic. 2. Literature and mental illness. 3. Imagination in literature. 4. Diseases in literature. I. Title.

RC49.F87 2002 616.08—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002017723

Wer Augen hat zu sehen and Ohren zu hören, überzeugt sich, dass die Sterblichen kein Geheimnis verbergen können. Wessen Lippen schweigen, der schwätzt mit den Fingerspitzen; aus allen Poren dringt ihm der Verrat. Und darum ist die Aufgabe, das verborgenste Seelische bewusst zu machen, sehr wohl lösbar. He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his finger-tips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore. And thus the task of making con- scious the most hidden recesses of the mind is one which it is quite possible to accomplish.

—Freud,Bruchstück einer Hysterie-Analyse(Dora)

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Contents

Preface Hiding and Seeking Distress 1. Speaking through the Body 2. Swings of the Historical Pendulum 3. The Mysterious Leap 4. Literary Patients Metaphors of Distress 5. “A Strange Sympathy betwixt Soul and Body”: Nathaniel Hawthorne,The Scarlet Letter(1850) 6. Nerves: At the Interstices of Physiology and Psychology: Emile Zola,Thérèse Raquin(1867) 7. “A Sick Spot on the Body oftheFamily”: Thomas Mann,Buddenbrooks(1900) 8. “Legs Turned to Butter”: Arthur Miller,Broken Glass(1994) 9. Substance and Shadow: Brian O’Doherty,The Strange Case of Mademoiselle P.(1992) 10. Shell Shock: Pat Barker,Regeneration(1991) 11. Outing the Distress Notes Bibliography Index

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Preface

t’s all in your head”; “Isn’t that what women are supposed to get?” “I These two responses to the word “psychosomatic” (incidentally, from well-educated individuals) are vivid illustrations of the uncertainties sur- rounding both the term and the concept. Neither formulation is wholly incorrect: the “head” (i.e., the mind) plays a cardinal role in psychosomatic 1 disorders, and the gender ratio is weighted on the female side. Yet each of these phrases is at best only partially valid; the one carries an undertone of dismissiveness, while the interrogatory form of the other indicates hesitancy. Why are psychosomatic disorders so resistant to ready understanding? Their recalcitrant nature is due in part to their multivalence; chameleon- like, they can assume many different guises, appearing in every part of the body, although some, such as headaches and stomachaches, are more common than others. Also, they are hard to diagnose, for they do not yield signs of pathological changes in test results. They remain elusive, cryptic, posing a challenge to sufferers and physicians alike. And beyond their overt, often puzzling manifestations, psychosomatic disorders encompass a deeper problem in their close intertwining of psyche and soma, as their name suggests. Yet the term itself is not a rarity. We apply it, with a wry smile, to a sudden headache, for instance, brought on by an annoying encounter that has rubbed us up the wrong way. By recognizing the headache as psycho- somatic, we perceive it as a physical outcome of, that is, an outlet for, an emotional state. We know that it is not purely imaginary: it is real—we may take Tylenol or Advil or whatever pain medication we prefer. We do not immediately believe it to be a symptom of a grave pathological disturbance such as a brain tumor. Buthoware mind and body interacting? By what paths is the annoyance translated, converted into the headache or the stomachache or some other symptom? While recent advances in the

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