Author: John J. Ross
Title: Shakespeare’s Tremor &
Orwell’s Cough
Description: A
medical doctor examines existing textual evidence about several different
authors (also Milton, Melville, the Brontes, Hawthorne, Swift, etc.) to
hypothesize about what was going on medically with them.
Writing style: Most
of the selections begin with a fictionalized scenario showing the author
interacting with medical personnel and then review the author’s symptoms,
describe the diagnoses they were given, and then give a conjecture about how
they might be diagnosed/treated today.
Audience: Folks
who are interested in literary or medical history.
Major ideas: I
found the book most interesting when the illnesses involved mental disorders,
since they were often reflected in the authors’ writings.
Wrap-up: I
enjoyed this book as something different. 3.5/5*
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