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Shakespeare's Tremor and Orwell's Cough: Diagnosing the Medical Groans and Last Gasps of Ten Great Writers
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Review
“Dr. Ross hits his narrative stride... in chapter after chapter. The stories of the wounded storytellers unfold smoothly on the page, as mesmerizing as any they themselves might have told, those squinting, wheezing, arthritic, infected, demented, defective yet superlative examples of the human condition.†―The New York Times“A rollicking good story.†―The Washington Post“[This] engrossing account of the illnesses endured by Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, the Brontës, Hawthorne, Melville, Yeats, Jack London, Joyce and Orwell...which deftly mixes close reading and diagnostic acumen, will stay with me for a long time. I have scarcely touched on the richness of this witty and deeply humane book. It would be worth reading for the extraordinary tale of the pathologically shy Hawthorne...Dr. Ross avoids the common mistake of overconfidence in his retrospective diagnoses, aware that nothing fits so neatly as a wrong diagnosis. And he avoids the reductive temptation of explaining the genius of his writers by pathologies that are, after all, suffered also by the untalented. Though some of his stories are familiar, they have never, in my experience, been told so well. Given that many of Dr. Ross's subjects were suffering from infectious diseases, it helps that this is his area of expertise. But he is also a penetrating literary critic and a perceptive and humane observer of the lives of writers and of those in their orbit. His light touch with cultural, social and political history is something from which many of the professionals in literary studies could learn. This is a book to which I shall return again and again.†―The Wall Street Journal“Carefully looking at distinguished authors from a medical perspective, Ross blends biography, history, literature,science,and imagination in just the right doses.†―Booklist (starred review)“Lively, probing.†―The Washington Times“Especially recommended for readers who enjoy historical context with their great books.†―Kirkus Reviews“This lively, occasionally squirm-inducing book sketches the case histories of 10 writers whose health influenced their literary work...Into a satisfying series of medical mysteries [Ross] injects notes of wry humor and obvious affection.†―The Boston Globe“...a fascinating, surprising,and at times hilarious compliation.†―New Scientist“Most writers aren't doctors. And most doctors aren't writers. When the two talents coincide, readers are treated to rare wisdom and novel insights. John Ross skillfully walks us through a clinic of the famous unwell.†―Nassir Ghaemi, author of A First-Rate Madness and Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine“We always long to know writers better: more than just their words, we want to immerse ourselves in their lives, to really feel what they felt. This book does that, plunging you in the day-to-day pains and struggles of some of the most celebrated names in the canon.†―Sam Kean, author of The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinists' Thumb“If this irresistibly entertaining collection of medical biographies is anything to go by, its author would make a crackerjack after-dinner speaker.Each section consists of a whirlwind tour through the life of a famous literary figure from a doctor's perspective, some of it imagined, and all of it punctuated by witty and fun-loving asides...what sets Ross apart is his pure storytelling ability.Using a fluid and unpretentious style, much like fellow physician and writer Atul Gawande's, he excels at condensing massive amounts of research into pleasurable reading.†―Winnipeg Free Press“The book is rather like a gripping medical detective book as Ross works out what was wrong with a collection of literary greats.†―The Daily Telegraph“Ross has nicely merged biographical data for each author with insightful discussions of his proposed medical diagnoses, and how their symptoms and treatments might have affected their work. While those in the medical community will find this book of interest, it is wonderfully engaging, often witty and quite intriguing to those of us outside of it, too.†―Shelf Awareness
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About the Author
JOHN J. ROSS is a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He lives in the Boston area with his family.
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Product details
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (April 15, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250042763
ISBN-13: 978-1250042767
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.5 out of 5 stars
42 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#737,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
According to the author, the spark for writing this book occurred when Dr. Ross was researching the literature for quotations on syphilis, the subject of a forthcoming academic presentation. He was impressed by the number of references to venereal disease in Shakespeare’s body of work. Further research uncovered that the Bard, later in life, suffered from unsteady gait and shaky handwriting possible as a complication of mercury vapor treatments for syphilis. Dr. Ross put his findings in a published article “Shakespeare’s Chancre:did the Bard have syphilis?†02/ 2005. This was followed a few months later by “Tuberculosis, bronchiectasis and infertility: what ailed George Orwell†12/2005; and three years later by “The many ailments of Herman Melville (1819-91)†published on 02/2008.These articles became the core of this book that was expanded by adding seven more literary luminaries and exploring their physical afflictions. Each of the ten chapters deals with a specific author, his biography, medical history, possible etiology of the diseases, differential diagnosis, treatments and consequences.Chapters begin with a fictitious event, setting the stage for the maladies of the subject and the contemporary state of the art of medicine.The lives and maladies of Shakespeare (syphilis), Milton (blindness/gout), Swift (dementia), the Bronte sisters (TB), Hawthorne (anxiety/cancer), Melville (ankylosing spondylitis/bipolar), Yeats (Hypertension/Brucellosis), London (Yaws), Joyce (VD) and Orwell (TB) are presented and detailed in a similar fashion = No spoilers here= Dr. Ross postulates many theories as to the afflictions of his subjects and explains his assumptions in plain language for the non-medical reader.In my opinion the book goes off the rails when the author ascribes mental illness and psychiatric syndromes to most of his subjects; “Asperger’s syndrome was the cause of Emily Bronte’s lack of social skills and overall odd behaviorâ€. Dr. Ross attributes the same ailment to other writers (Milton, Swift, Yeats) as well. He implies that the writers’ maladies were intrinsic to the eminent distinction of their work.The author, in his attempt to appeal to a general readership, has diluted the medical context and eschewed medical jargon, all the while inserting biographical vignettes and fictional situations to link historical events. This, in turn, would not satiate the medical historian or the curious clinician.The prose is smooth, clear and sometimes witty. The writing becomes awkward when the author tries to construct some fictitious scenes. Dr. Ross treats his subjects with compassion for the physical pain and psychological torture they endured, often made worse by some of the barbaric treatments inflicted by their physicians.Overall, I found the book to be entertaining by its font of historical trivia, but uneven in its coverage of literary figures and overreaching in some of its diagnoses. By the end of the book, I was left with the impression that mental illness was a prerequisite for great literary works.I would recommend this book to the lay reader, interested in literary and medical history, as a primer for further exploration.
The stereotype that writers are considered to be a bit odd or reclusive is perhaps because they are odd and reclusive. John J. Ross, a physician at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and guest editor for the prestigious quarterly Infectious Diseases Clinics of North America, has written a highly readable and entertaining book that delves into the lives and illnesses of some of our most famous and beloved authors. His book is an easy to read combination biography, review of classic literature, and medical journal.I’ve spent my life deliberately avoiding reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre but after reading the real life tragedies of the Bronte family, and learning these two classics are somewhat based on the realities of the sisters’ lives has piqued my interest. While tuberculosis stalked the reclusive family, Ross identifies enough traits to suggest the Emily Bronte had Asperger syndrome.Jonathan Swift’s proclivities suggest Obsessive Compulsive Disorder based on his “abhorrence of filthâ€â€”filth apparently being the norm for the period—and his celibate life style. Even with his abstinence he managed to ruin the lives of two women.Roth also sees bipolar disorder as a psychological malady of writers. In the case of Herman Melville, it seems to have been inherited from his father, Allan Melville. We are treated to a fair bit of senior Melville’s erratic life before delving into Herman’s. Of him, Roth writes, “Melville had two powerful risk factors for bipolar affective disorder; the loss of a parent in childhood, and a robust family history of mood disorders.â€We learn that Melville’s friend—perhaps intimate friend—Nathaniel Hawthorne also comes from a disrupted childhood, and exhibits a “pathological shyness consistent with social anxiety disorder, or social phobia.†Hawthorne’s behavior is such that he would “run into a field to avoid meeting strangers on a road†and avoid eye contact when dining or walking in public. According to his wife, “He hates to be touched.â€Apart from the psychological disorders of famous authors, there are the physical maladies, ranging from sexually transmitted diseases, perforated ulcers, blindness and deafness, to Jack London’s renal failure, undoubtedly brought on by a self-administered morphine overdose.I found the history of medicine in this book to be both frightening and fascinating. Whether you favor Obamacare or not, we should be so grateful we live in the times that we do. There was no concept of germs, therefore surgeons saw no need to wash their hands while attending to multiple patients. If your disease didn’t kill you, the treatment often would. Medicines often included heavy doses of lead, arsenic, and mercury. It seems mercury was a very effective laxative in its day; the heavy liquid metal could push anything through the intestinal track.John J. Ross’ Shakespeare’s Tremor and Orwell’s Cough is a fast, enjoyable read that is hard to put down.
Every time I take a pill for my maladies, I am grateful that I live todayrather in some primitive age, like fifty years ago! John J. Ross's bookabout the ailments that beset some famed authors make meeven more grateful to be alive now. Of course I realize that futuregenerations may very well look at our time with horror at the stupidityof our current so-called treatments and cures. Ross's book is very readable,because of, or despite, its display of thorough academic knowledge of whatmay, or may not, have sickened or killed Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Melville,the Bronte sisters, Yeats, James Joyce, and Orwell, and a few others.The critique of the medical overuse of mercury and arsenic, bleeding, anduseless potions will keep you reading and also fact-checking your own doctor'sprescriptions. Some of the medical jargon may be arcane and hard toswallow, but the reader always feels the author/doctor knows what he is talkingabout.He ticks off symptoms and failed treatments of these celebrity writers socompletely, it's possible to forget which actual disease did in the poor fellow atthe last. It isn't pretty, but it does make a person appreciate how these writerssuffered and yet somehow managed to complete their works.Cheers for themand cheers for this doctor who diagnoses the mood disorders, STDs, and excessesof the famed, but not totally blessed, writers of the Western Canon. --- Daniel Curzon
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