Lingua Medica: Alienation and Imagination: The Literature of Exclusion
Authors: Janice L. Willms
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1997)

Medical Writings1 June 1997Lingua Medica: Alienation and Imagination: The Literature of ExclusionJanice L. Willms, MD, PhDJanice L. Willms, MD, PhDInstitute of Medicine and Humanities, Missoula, MT 59806Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-126-11-199706010-00036 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail “1751”“That year Diderot began to publish his Encyclopedia, and the first insane asylum was founded in London”“So the counting out began, to separate the sane, who veil themselves in words, from the insane”“Poets had to learn tightrope-walking”“And just to make sure, officious dimwits began to publish instructions on how to be normal.”Miroslav Holub [1]Much serious literature is capable of eliciting reflection on the meaning of alienation-a sense of being something other than normal, of being outside of culturally accepted boundaries. Why focus on alienation in an essay about the literature of medicine?When considering ...References1. Holub M. Vanishing Lung Syndrome. Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College Pr; 1990:9. Google Scholar2. Brody H. Stories of Sickness. New Haven: Yale Univ Pr; 1987. Google Scholar3. Kafka F. The Metamorphosis. In: The Penal Colony and Other Stories. New York: Schocken Books; 1948. Google Scholar4. Plath S. The Bell Jar. New York: Bantam Books; 1972. Google Scholar5. Cassell EJ. The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine. New York: Oxford Univ Pr; 1991:43. Google Scholar6. Middlebrook C. Seeing the Crab: A Memoir of Dying. New York: Basic Books; 1996:169. Google Scholar7. Styron W. Darkness Visible: Memoir of Madness. New York: Random House; 1990. Google Scholar8. Styron W. Darkness Visible: Memoir of Madness. New York: Random House; 1990:56-7. Google Scholar9. Langer LL. Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. New Haven: Yale Univ Pr; 1991:61. Google Scholar10. Lifton RJ. Home from the War. Vietnam Veterans: Neither Victims nor Executioners. New York: Simon & Schuster; 1973:39. Google Scholar11. Langer LL. Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. New Haven: Yale Univ Pr; 1991:53. Google Scholar12. Langer LL. Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. New Haven: Yale Univ Pr; 1991:xiii-xiv. Google Scholar13. Levi P. The Drowned and the Saved. New York: Summit Books; 1986:12. Google Scholar14. Langer LL. Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. New Haven: Yale Univ Pr; 1991:xv. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Institute of Medicine and Humanities, Missoula, MT 59806Corresponding Author: Janice L. Willms, MD, PhD, Institute of Medicine and Humanities, PO Box 4587, Missoula, MT 59806. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byReading for empathy 1 June 1997Volume 126, Issue 11Page: 923-926KeywordsCyclic adenosine monophosphateDeceptionDisabilitiesEmotionsFearForecastingShouldersVeinsVisionWheelchairs ePublished: 15 August 2000 Issue Published: 1 June 1997 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 1997 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...