Idioms of Distress: Psychosomatic Disorders in Medical and Imaginative Literature

by Furst, Lilian R.

• ISBN13: 9780791455579
• ISBN10: 0791455572
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: STATE UNIV OF NEW YORK PRESS

Summary

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, Emile Zola's Therese 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.

Author Biography

Lilian R. Furst is Marcel Bataillon Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Hiding and Seeking Distress
Speaking through the Body	1	(18)
Swings of the Historical Pendulum	19	(18)
The Mysterious Leap	37	(16)
Literary Patients	53	(18)
Metaphors of Distress
``A Strange Sympathy betwixt Soul and Body'': Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850)	71	(22)
Nerves: At the Interstices of Physiology and Psychology: Emile Zola, Therese Raquin (1867)	93	(18)
``A Sick Spot on the Body of our Family'': Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks (1900)	111	(18)
``Legs Turned to Butter'': Arthur Miller, Broken Glass (1994)	129	(20)
Substance and Shadow: Brian O'Doherty, The Strange Case of Mademoiselle P. (1992)	149	(20)
Shell Shock: Pat Barker, Regeneration (1991)	169	(22)
Outing the Distress	191	(9)
Notes	200	(11)
Bibliography	211	(10)
Index	221