Tag: Literary Essays
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The locked-in syndrome in fiction
JMS PearceHull, England The soul is trapped in a body that no longer obeys its commands.—A. Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844 The pediatric neurologist Richard E. Nordgren and colleagues in 1971 described seven cases of what they called “The Locked In Syndrome.”1 Plum and Posner’s classic monograph comprehensively reviewed the condition and distinguished…
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Charles Dickens and his doctors
Charles Dickens, one the greatest authors in the English language, featured in his novels medical doctors, students, and related professionals. They do not play an important role in his plots, but are interesting because they exemplify how medical practice was conducted two hundred years ago. Some of his doctors were benevolent and generous, others incompetent,…
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To see versus to observe: Why Sherlock Holmes could have been an ophthalmologist
Rida KhanNew York, United States In “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first short story within his renowned Sherlock Holmes series, the titular character engages in a lighthearted battle of wits with his companion and right hand, Dr. Watson. After Sherlock explains his process of deduction, a rather chagrined Dr. Watson states, “When…
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Wordsworth’s “The Idiot Boy”: Disability and maternal love
Elizabeth Lovett ColledgeJacksonville, Florida, United States In William Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads (1798), the poem “The Idiot Boy” reveals a compassionate insight into the mental disabilities of young Johnny Foy, presenting him not as a horror to be confined to Bedlam or a similar institution, but as a child to be embraced, cared for, and loved.…
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Robert Klopstock: Kafka’s fellow patient, friend, and doctor
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “If I had known then what I know now, Franz would be sitting here talking to us.”– Robert Klopstock, M.D., to Kafka scholar Angel Flores, early 1940s Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was born to a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. He got a law degree at his father’s insistence but worked as a…
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Holden Caulfield’s coughing conundrum: A medical perspective
Anthony GulottaBethesda, Maryland, United States J.D. Salinger’s 1951 novel, The Catcher in the Rye, captivates readers with the story of Holden Caulfield, a disillusioned teenager. Was Holden’s constant coughing due to pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), as he claims, or some other illness? His own words paint a bleak picture. He mentions being “dead tired,” harboring a…
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The ones who stay in Omelas
Jackson MartinLubbock, Texas, United States Ursula K. Le Guin describes a paradoxical and provocative utopian city in her short story, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. The story reads as a parable, differing from an analogy or metaphor in that it intends to provoke varying conclusions from the audience. Le Guin does not explain…
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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…