scholarly journals Introduction: Medical Case Histories as Genre: New Approaches

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. vii-xvi ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Class
Author(s):  
Megan Coyer

This chapter argues that the ‘tale of terror’ may be read as a form of hybrid ‘medico-popular’ writing to be classed alongside non-fiction medical texts such as Robert Macnish’s The Anatomy of Drunkenness (1827) and The Philosophy of Sleep (1830), as well as one of the most canonical ‘literary’ medical case histories, Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822). The first section introduces Macnish’s first medico-literary project in relation to De Quincey’s Confessions, before moving on to an examination of the development of the tale of terror in relation to the type of popular medical material previously published in monthly magazines and the case history tradition. The chapter closes by discussing the engagement with the genre by three medical contributors to Blackwood’s, the surgeons, Robert Macnish (1802–37), John Howison (1797–1859) and William Dunlop (1792–1848).


1997 ◽  
Vol 127 (11) ◽  
pp. 1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Donnelly
Keyword(s):  

2009 ◽  
Vol 195 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Subotsky

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) is another literary Dubliner. Having studied law at Trinity College, he became a journalist and author, famous for both his sensationalist novels and his supernatural tales. For In a Glass Darkly Le Fanu used a technique common in gothic fiction by having a narrator/editor who presents past documents, in this instance of mysterious medical case histories from the papers of the nowdeceased Dr Hesselius. The latter is a European ‘metaphysical physician’ with Swedenborgian leanings who likes to investigate curious psychological phenomena. He considerably resembles the later Professor Van Helsing from Bram Stoker's Dracula.


Author(s):  
Adriana Petryna

This chapter examines the experiential and political aspects of biological citizenship in post-Soviet Ukraine, with particular emphasis on the relationship between an emerging medical classification of the ill effects of the Chernobyl disaster and the social process of distribution of disability entitlements. Drawing on the experiences of three sufferers, the chapter considers the kind of experiences and social initiatives that have emerged between state medical classification and the redistribution of social welfare goods. It also explores the importance that Soviet administrators placed on the environment as a political tool to “normalize” catastrophe, and how that normalized environment influenced life stories and medical case histories. Finally, it discusses the ways that law, medicine, and corruption intersected with respect to the processing of disability claims.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document