From medicine to manuscript : doctors with a literary legacy / Seymour I. Schwartz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwartz, Seymour I., 1928-2020, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physicians.

Authorship.

History, Medieval.

History, Early Modern 1451-1600.

History, Modern 1601-.

Medical Subjects:

Physicians.

Authorship.

History, Medieval.

History, Early Modern 1451-1600.

History, Modern 1601-.

Physical Description:

375 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2018.

Summary:

"An eminent surgeon, who has written books on the history of medicine and cartography, profiles physicians past and present who have also published works in the humanities. Throughout history doctors have felt the need to express themselves in prose and poetry, often on subjects far removed from their medical interests. Renowned surgeon Seymour I. Schwartz felt this same compulsion to write and eventually decided to investigate other authors with a background in medicine. The result is this informative and entertaining compilation of biographical profiles spanning the Middle Ages to the present era. In many cases, literary fame has eclipsed memory of these authors' medical expertise: Most people today talk about Maimonides, Rabelais, Locke, Schiller, Keats, Conan Doyle, and Chekhov because of their literary works, not because they practiced medicine. But the lesser-known individuals are just as interesting in many ways: such people as Cadwallader Colden, the loyalist lieutenant governor of New York during the American Revolution, who wrote the first English history of the Iroquois; Margaret Georgina Todd, author of popular novels in the Victorian era, which promoted the idea of women in medicine; and Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher, who was not only a physician, researcher, and radiologist, but played a role in the Harlem Renaissance as an orator, musician, musical arranger, and literary figure. Concluding with profiles of contemporary doctors who are also respected authors, this diverse collection shows that, despite increasing specialization, medicine and the humanities continue to complement each other to enrich our lives"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I The Past

1 A Beacon in a Dark Age p. 17 / Maimonides

2 Health and Humanism p. 24 / Thomas Linacre

3 Mirth as Medicine p. 29 / François Rabelais

4 Potions and Prognostications p. 33 / Michel de Nostredame

5 Favorite of the Future p. 38 / Sir Thomas Browne

6 Premier Physician/Philosopher during the Enlightenment in England p. 46 / John Locke

7 Epistles and Exaggerated Expertise p. 53 / Cadwallader Colden

8 Prodigy, Physiologist, Physician, Poetry, and Prose p. 59 / Albrecht von Haller

9 Picaresque Primacy p. 65 / Tobias George Smollett

10 A Questionable Inclusion p. 70 / Oliver Goldsmith

11 A Grand Grandfather-Progenitor of the Man and His "Ism" p. 75 / Erasmus Darwin

12 Part Medicine, Part Ministry, but Persistent Poetry p. 82 / George Crabbe

13 Literary Largess of an AWOL Regimental Doctor p. 88 / Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

14 A Bard Who Shed the Bard Parker p. 95 / John Keats

15 From Surgery at Sea to Successful Serials p. 100 / Marie-Joseph Eugène Sue

16 Fiction Focuses on the Irish from Afar p. 104 / Charles James Lever

17 A Most Successful Combination p. 110 / Oliver Wendell Holmes

18 Neurology and Nineteen Novels p. 117 / Silas Weir Mitchell

19 The Lone Laureate p. 124 / Robert Seymour Bridges

20 A Precedent from a Peerless Physician p. 130 / Sir William Osler

21 Extraordinary Edwardian with an Elephantine Association p. 139 / Sir Frederick Treves

22 Female Physician Fosters Medical Feminism in Fiction p. 145 / Arabella Madonna Kenealy

23 Contemporary Champion of Common Cause p. 149 / Margaret Georgina Todd

24 A Modicum of Medicine-a Mass of Manuscripts p. 152 / Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle

25 Fusion of Fiction and Medicine p. 161 / Anton Chekhov

26 Perceived to he Pornography p. 169 / Arthur Schnitzler

27 Scientifically Superior to Sherlock p. 174 / R. Austin Freeman

28 Honors Galore-a Pulitzer Prize and More p. 180 / Harvey Williams Cushing

29 Maintaining Medical Status while Producing Profitable Prose p. 186 / William Somerset Maugham

30 Surgeon, Soldier, Author, and Publisher p. 193 / James Johnston Abraham

31 A Diverse and Demonstrative Dubliner p. 197 / Oliver St. John Gogarty

32 Keynesian Contributions to Surgery and Literature p. 204 / Sir Geoffrey Langdon Keynes

33 Passionate about Poetry while Persistently Providing Medical Care p. 210 / William Carlos Williams

34 Closure of the Locks for Medicine Opened the Floodgates for Literature p. 217 / Francis Brett Young

35 The Renaissance Man of the Harlem Renaissance p. 223 / Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher

36 Prohibition from Print Transforms into Posthumous Adulation p. 228 / Mikhail Bulgakov

37 Profitable Prose with Social Consequence p. 234 / Archibald Joseph Cronin

38 Respected Psychiatrist and Persistent Poet p. 240 / Austin Merrill Moore

39 Short on Surgery, Long on Literature p. 244 / Frank Gill Slaughter

40 Dual Distinction p. 248 / Lewis Thomas

41 Northern Cure Transforms Career of Southern Writer p. 252 / Walker Percy

42 The Monocle Bespeaks Medical Mirth p. 259 / Gordon Stanley Ostlere (Richard Gordon)

43 The "Doctor Who Found His Forte in Writing" p. 263 / John Benignus Lyons

44 Georgia-Georgia p. 267 / Ferrol Aubrey Sams Jr.

45 Surgeon and a Short Story Stylist p. 271 / Richard Selzer

46 From Electricity to Eloquence-Shock Breeds Success p. 275 / Sherwin Bernard Nuland

47 Practice Medicine to Increase Personal Survival of Gulag Incarceration! p. 280 / Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov

48 Stories Stem from Synaptic Struggles p. 284 / Oliver Wood Sacks

49 Iconic and Not Remembered p. 291 / John Stone III

50 Therapeutic Thrillers p. 295 / Michael Stephen Palmer

51 Uniquely First in Three Media Simultaneously p. 299 / John Michael Crichton

Part II The Present

52 Medical Nobel Laureate Creates Compelling Literature p. 307 / Eric R. Kandel

53 Primacy and Prolificacy in Medical Thrillers p. 312 / Robert Brian "Robin" Cook

54 From Medical Forefronts to the Irish Countryside p. 315 / Patrick Taylor

55 The Rhodes to Irreverence p. 319 / Stephen J. Bergman

56 Completeness Trumps Personal Prejudice p. 324 / Deepak Chopra

57 Productivity and Popularity Surmount Profound Personal Adversity p. 328 / Paul Carson

58 Widely Read and Highly Regarded p. 331 / Charles Krauthammer

59 An Exceptional Exemplar p. 334 / Jerome E. Groopman

60 Practicality Trumps Passion, but Passion Perseveres p. 338 / Tess Gerritsen

61 Medical Humanism and Honed Literature p. 341 / Abraham Verghese

62 Indelible Impressions Contribute to Divorce from Medicine p. 345 / Khaled Hosseini

63 Humanities and a Human Voice p. 348 / Danielle Ofri

64 A Mercury for Modern Medicine p. 351 / Atul Gawande

65 Biographer of Biology p. 355 / Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Online version: Schwartz, Seymour I., 1928- From medicine to manuscript.

ISBN:

9781633884335

1633884333

OCLC:

1029071461