Category: Literary Essays
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The eight physicians of Shakespeare
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States William Shakespeare created eight physicians in his thirty-eight plays (Table I)1; seven of them appear on stage, and the eighth, Gerard de Narbon, though deceased, has a medical reputation that forms an important part of one of the plays.2 All eight physicians have functional roles in the plays; in addition,…
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George Orwell: An attempt at a diagnosis
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “It’s better to die violently and not too old…‘natural’ death, almost by definition, means something slow, smelly and painful.”– George Orwell, “How the poor die,” 1946 Many readers of the English author George Orwell (1903–1950) know that he died of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). He wrote Animal Farm, 1984, four other novels, three…
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“Get well soon”: Rapid recovery in two children’s novels
Emily BoyleDublin, Ireland The sudden recovery of paralyzed patients is as thrilling as it is unlikely and has often been memorably portrayed in books and film. Some paralysis, such as occurs after spinal cord injury, is permanent. However, gradual physiologic recovery from a paralyzing condition such as a stroke is well recognized, usually with intensive…
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Tea with Walter de la Mare by Russell Brain
JMS PearceHull, England “The little nowhere of the brain” Many physicians have dabbled in literature and the arts, or as “medical truants” have abandoned medicine for such ventures. A unique collaboration of medicine and literature was the friendship and exchange of diverse stories and speculative ideas of human experience between the eminent neurologist Walter Russell…
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Pippi Longstocking: Escapist fiction for children, a clinical case description, or a feminist icon?
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Think for yourself is the mantra she whispers in children’s ears. Don’t believe the teachers, the police, the child welfare workers…”1– A resumé of Pippi Longstocking’s philosophy Pippi Longstocking (or Pippi Långstrump in the original Swedish) is a fictional nine-year-old girl. She has great self-confidence, superhuman strength, and much joie de vivre.…
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Charles Dickens and the Victorian perception of blindness
Curtis MargoLynn HarmanTampa, Florida, United States Charles Dickens (1812–1870), the most recognized English author after Shakespeare, left a legacy of fictional characters, many of whom are inseparably associated with the cruelties of the Industrial Age, poverty, and disability. On his first trip to America, Dickens went out of his way to meet Laura Bridgman (1829–1889),…
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Noah Webster’s war on words
JMS PearceHull, England “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” When Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (III.3) speaks this line, he reminds us of the singular importance of the use of words, and hence the need, even for medical writers, to refer continually to fine dictionaries. Noah Webster…
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Dylan Thomas’s terminal illness
JMS PearceHull, England Time held me green and dyingThough I sang in my chains like the sea.– Dylan Thomas, “Fern Hill”, 1937 The poet Dylan Marlais Thomas (1914–1953) was born in Cwmdonkin Drive in Swansea on 27 October 1914. He was much in awe of, but devoted to his father, an English teacher at Swansea…
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ReJoycing in words and medicine
Fergus ShanahanCork, IrelandEamonn QuigleyHouston, Texas, United States Making mejical history all over the show!-James Joyce, Finnegans Wake (FW) 514.2-31 James Joyce (1882–1941) is celebrated for his portrayal of the lives of ordinary people in his native city. Like many of the great writers, he had a lot to say about illness and disease. He was…