Sirotkina Diagnosing Literary Genius

A Cultural History of Psychiatry in Russia, 1880-1930
Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-0-8018-7689-9
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 0 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Medicine and Culture

Winner of the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the Modern Language Association

The vital place of literature and the figure of the writer in Russian society and history have been extensively studied, but their role in the evolution of psychiatry is less well known. In Diagnosing Literary Genius: A Cultural History of Psychiatry in Russia, 1880-1930, Irina Sirotkina explores the transformations of Russian psychiatric practice through its relationship to literature. During this period, psychiatrists began to view literature as both an indicator of the nation's mental health and an integral part of its well-being. By aligning themselves with writers, psychiatrists argued that the aim of their science was not dissimilar to the literary project of exploring the human soul and reflecting on the psychological ailments of the age.

Through the writing of pathographies (medical biographies), psychiatrists strengthened their social standing, debated political issues under the guise of literary criticism, and asserted moral as well as professional claims. By examining the psychiatric engagement with the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, and the decadents and revolutionaries, Sirotkina provides a rich account of Russia's medical and literary history during this turbulent revolutionary period.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sirotkina, Irina

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizinische Fachgebiete Psychiatrie, Sozialpsychiatrie, Suchttherapie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Slawische Literaturen Ostslawische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
On Transliteration and Spelling
Introduction
1. Gogol, Moralists, and Nineteenth-Century Psychiatry
2. Dostoevsky: From Epilepsy to Progeneration
3. Tolstoy and the Beginning of Psychotherapy in Russia
4. Decadents, Revolutionaries, and the Nation's Mental Health
5. The Institute of Genius: Psychiatry in the Early Soviet Years
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Sirotkina, Irina
Irina Sirotkina is a research fellow at the Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.

Irina Sirotkina is a research fellow at the Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.