Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology

Around 400 BC, Areatus -- one of Hippocrates’ pupils, proclaimed ‘epilepsy is an illness of various shapes and horrible’. Later, Areatus was also one of the people who called the disease ‘sacred’; according to them, a deity had sent a demon to possess the patient, or the patient had been cursed by t...

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Autor principal:	Anupama Shukla
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	University of Edinburgh 2021
Materias:	Fine Arts N Language and Literature P
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/414d3037a740499ba9f3039e2834fafb
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:414d3037a740499ba9f3039e2834fafb2021-11-23T09:50:51ZEpilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology1749-977110.2218/forum.31.5496https://doaj.org/article/414d3037a740499ba9f3039e2834fafb2021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.forumjournal.org/article/view/5496https://doaj.org/toc/1749-9771Around 400 BC, Areatus -- one of Hippocrates’ pupils, proclaimed ‘epilepsy is an illness of various shapes and horrible’. Later, Areatus was also one of the people who called the disease ‘sacred’; according to them, a deity had sent a demon to possess the patient, or the patient had been cursed by the moon. The Hippocratic physicians were among the first to attempt to separate the scientific and the cultural/fictional discourses. However, even till the late nineteenth century, medical narratives were intertwined with the fictional narratives that surrounded epilepsy, and these narratives contributed significantly towards the stigma that has historically been associated with the disease. This paper will examine how medical and non-medical discourses shaped the representation of epilepsy and contributed to the cultural mythology surrounding epilepsy. In the course of this paper, the author will specifically focus on Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, in which the reader sees the author’s personal view of epilepsy, cleverly accommodated into the character of Prince Myshkin, who is surrounded by social stigmatisation. Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy for a major part of his life, and he maintained detailed accounts of his seizures. His epilepsy had a huge influence on his writings and his perception of the world. Dostoevsky’s epilepsy has been seen as particularly relevant, since being an epileptic himself, his works provide the reader with an insight into the disease which is hard to find elsewhere.Anupama ShuklaUniversity of EdinburgharticleFine ArtsNLanguage and LiteraturePENForum, Iss 31 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Fine Arts N Language and Literature P
spellingShingle	Fine Arts N Language and Literature P Anupama Shukla Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology
description	Around 400 BC, Areatus -- one of Hippocrates’ pupils, proclaimed ‘epilepsy is an illness of various shapes and horrible’. Later, Areatus was also one of the people who called the disease ‘sacred’; according to them, a deity had sent a demon to possess the patient, or the patient had been cursed by the moon. The Hippocratic physicians were among the first to attempt to separate the scientific and the cultural/fictional discourses. However, even till the late nineteenth century, medical narratives were intertwined with the fictional narratives that surrounded epilepsy, and these narratives contributed significantly towards the stigma that has historically been associated with the disease. This paper will examine how medical and non-medical discourses shaped the representation of epilepsy and contributed to the cultural mythology surrounding epilepsy. In the course of this paper, the author will specifically focus on Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, in which the reader sees the author’s personal view of epilepsy, cleverly accommodated into the character of Prince Myshkin, who is surrounded by social stigmatisation. Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy for a major part of his life, and he maintained detailed accounts of his seizures. His epilepsy had a huge influence on his writings and his perception of the world. Dostoevsky’s epilepsy has been seen as particularly relevant, since being an epileptic himself, his works provide the reader with an insight into the disease which is hard to find elsewhere.
format	article
author	Anupama Shukla
author_facet	Anupama Shukla
author_sort	Anupama Shukla
title	Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology
title_short	Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology
title_full	Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology
title_fullStr	Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology
title_full_unstemmed	Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology
title_sort	epilepsy in dostoevsky’s the idiot - language, stigma, and mythology
publisher	University of Edinburgh
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/414d3037a740499ba9f3039e2834fafb
work_keys_str_mv	AT anupamashukla epilepsyindostoevskystheidiotlanguagestigmaandmythology
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Epilepsy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot - Language, Stigma, and Mythology

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