In/Sanitary Science
What does it mean to be mad? And who gets to decide that? In nineteenth-century America, psychiatry emerges as a profession that successfully assumes the authority to diagnose individual and societal mental health. Yet psychiatry’s institutional success and the medical concept of insanity are inextr...
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| Главный автор: | |
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| Формат: | Online |
| Язык: | английский |
| Опубликовано: |
FAU University Press
2025
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| Предметы: | |
| Online-ссылка: | ONIX_20250709T122353_9783961476763_8 |
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Нет меток, Требуется 1-ая метка записи!
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| _version_ | 1869523693331283968 |
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| author | Kaspirek, Maria |
| author_browse | Kaspirek, Maria |
| author_facet | Kaspirek, Maria |
| author_sort | Kaspirek, Maria |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | What does it mean to be mad? And who gets to decide that? In nineteenth-century America, psychiatry emerges as a profession that successfully assumes the authority to diagnose individual and societal mental health. Yet psychiatry’s institutional success and the medical concept of insanity are inextricably linked to literature, as the material in this study reveals. In their quest for knowledge, psychiatrists turned to Shakespeare, Molière and Byron, using these authors as infallible authorities, and their literary case studies as an etiological basis. At the same time, psychiatrists condemned literary works for their demoralizing and pathological influence. The package of what I call asylum literature adds more layers to this complex relationship: sensational novels process the institution and play with readers’ deep-seated fears and prejudices. Patients write their way to mental and actual freedom in patient-produced periodicals, and explosive accounts of everyday life and care in the asylum. Superintendents use bibliotherapy as a vital instrument in reshaping their patients’ minds. The juxtaposition and comparison of medical literature, asylum literature and classic American works by Melville and Hawthorne reveal recurring questions that keep us busy still: What are the limits of science and literature? How is knowledge produced, negotiated, and consolidated? |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-162679 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | FAU University Press |
| publisherStr | FAU University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1626792025-10-16T12:35:13Z In/Sanitary Science Kaspirek, Maria American Psychiatric Association Bibliotherapie Literaturgeschichte Wahnsinn Wissensgeschichte Irrenhausliteratur Melville, Herman implizites Wissen Hawthorne, Nathaniel Psychiatriegeschichte Psychiatrische Klinik thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHK History of the Americas thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBF Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 What does it mean to be mad? And who gets to decide that? In nineteenth-century America, psychiatry emerges as a profession that successfully assumes the authority to diagnose individual and societal mental health. Yet psychiatry’s institutional success and the medical concept of insanity are inextricably linked to literature, as the material in this study reveals. In their quest for knowledge, psychiatrists turned to Shakespeare, Molière and Byron, using these authors as infallible authorities, and their literary case studies as an etiological basis. At the same time, psychiatrists condemned literary works for their demoralizing and pathological influence. The package of what I call asylum literature adds more layers to this complex relationship: sensational novels process the institution and play with readers’ deep-seated fears and prejudices. Patients write their way to mental and actual freedom in patient-produced periodicals, and explosive accounts of everyday life and care in the asylum. Superintendents use bibliotherapy as a vital instrument in reshaping their patients’ minds. The juxtaposition and comparison of medical literature, asylum literature and classic American works by Melville and Hawthorne reveal recurring questions that keep us busy still: What are the limits of science and literature? How is knowledge produced, negotiated, and consolidated? 2025-07-10T05:03:20Z 2025-07-10T05:03:20Z 2025-07-09T10:29:36Z 2023 book ONIX_20250709T122353_9783961476763_8 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/104047 9783961476763 9783961476756 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/162679 eng FAU Forschungen : Reihe A open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/104047/1/9783961476763.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/104047/1/9783961476763.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/104047/1/9783961476763.pdf FAU University Press 10.25593/978-3-96147-676-3 10.25593/978-3-96147-676-3 2c600dea-eece-4066-87be-da335e323fdb 9783961476763 9783961476756 AG Universitätsverlage 301 Erlangen open access |
| spellingShingle | American Psychiatric Association Bibliotherapie Literaturgeschichte Wahnsinn Wissensgeschichte Irrenhausliteratur Melville, Herman implizites Wissen Hawthorne, Nathaniel Psychiatriegeschichte Psychiatrische Klinik thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHK History of the Americas thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBF Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 Kaspirek, Maria In/Sanitary Science |
| title | In/Sanitary Science |
| title_full | In/Sanitary Science |
| title_fullStr | In/Sanitary Science |
| title_full_unstemmed | In/Sanitary Science |
| title_short | In/Sanitary Science |
| title_sort | in sanitary science |
| topic | American Psychiatric Association Bibliotherapie Literaturgeschichte Wahnsinn Wissensgeschichte Irrenhausliteratur Melville, Herman implizites Wissen Hawthorne, Nathaniel Psychiatriegeschichte Psychiatrische Klinik thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHK History of the Americas thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBF Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 |
| topic_facet | American Psychiatric Association Bibliotherapie Literaturgeschichte Wahnsinn Wissensgeschichte Irrenhausliteratur Melville, Herman implizites Wissen Hawthorne, Nathaniel Psychiatriegeschichte Psychiatrische Klinik thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHK History of the Americas thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBF Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 |
| url | ONIX_20250709T122353_9783961476763_8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kaspirekmaria insanitaryscience |