Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Alcohol

  • Notes from writing a character with a bleeding disorder

    Nicole Hebdon Buffalo, New York, United States   “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” –Ernest Hemingway. Photograph by Suzy Hazelwood. Taken from pexels.com I have read two books that feature characters with bleeding disorders. The first was a used paperback with a neon green and…

  • Lovis Corinth and the sick father

      Franz Heinrich Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) began his career as a realistic painter, showing things on canvas as they are seen in reality. Thus in His Father on his Sickbed (Stadel Museum, Frankfurt) we see the father in bed, sick but perhaps not mortally so. His loving daughter keeps watch by the bedside. She has…

  • It’s elementary: The addictions of Sherlock Holmes

    Kevin R. Loughlin Boston, Massachusetts, USA Illustration of Sherlock Holmes for “The Valley of Fear.” From The Strand Magazine. By Frank Wiley September, 1914. Accessed via the Toronto Public Library, Adventures with Sherlock Holmes virtual exhibit. One might ask, why write about the addictions of a fictional character? The answer is that there is often…

  • The door to recovery

    Irene Metzner Glenn Youngkrantz Chicago, Illinois, United States   Stories about addiction are often filled with despair, but they don’t have to be: this is a true story in two parts. The first is the perspective of a patient, and the second that of his doctor, as they chose to be hopeful.   Part I The Two Doorways. James McNeill Whistler. 1879/80. Art…

  • The iron crab

    Sean Varner Baltimore, Maryland, United States   Fleming’s epitaph, “Omnia perfunctus vitae praemia, marces,” translated as “Having enjoyed all life’s prizes, you now decay,” comes from On the Nature of Things Book Three by Lucretius which explores the fear of death. Fleming suggested the following epitaph for Bond: “I shall not waste my days in…

  • Heroes and alcohol

    Cal Bartley Penarth, South Wales, United Kingdom   Photo by Cal Bartley It would seem that literary heroes cannot function without alcohol, as so many great books reference alcohol in a positive light. Even if it does not lubricate the plot, a glance at many classics suggest that a stiff drink is needed for the…

  • Three doctor’s visits

    Zara Aziz Bristol, England   The Cathedral by Auguste Rodin. 1908. Musée Rodin. Photograph by Daniel Stockman on Flickr via Wikimedia. 2010. CC BY-SA 2.0. Only one week ago Yasmin had been at the same flats to see her patient, Jenny Johnson. Jenny was a lovely lady of around fifty-two, with a lilting Irish accent and…

  • Alcohol and the art of David Teniers Jr.

    Mirjana Stojkovic-IvkovicBelgrade, Serbia David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690) was one of the most prolific and versatile Flemish artists. About 2000 pictures have been attributed to him, including replicas and copies, and at least 900 paintings have been accepted as his genuine work. In his lifetime he was respected as one of the greatest painters of…

  • Dead people healing alcoholism

    Maria BarnaSibiu, Romania In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were many villages in the Moldavia region of Romania where doctors hardly ever came. When people became ill they found hope in prayers or in the secret knowledge of initiated women. Thus the treatment of alcoholism was based on empirical and magical medicine.…