Tormented Hope Nine Hypochondriac Lives
Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon, published by Penguin Books Limited in 2010, is a 304-page exploration of the intricate relationship between mind and body, fear and hope, illness and imagination. This book delves into the experiences of nine notable individuals, examining how their hypochondria shapes their perceptions of health and self. Through these narratives, Dillon investigates the psychological dimensions of illness, revealing how the mind can distort our understanding of our physical existence.
Readers will find a thoughtful examination of the lives of figures such as James Boswell, Charlotte Brontë, and Andy Warhol, among others. Dillon’s work highlights the interplay between psychological states and physical health, offering insights into the complexities of human experience. The book addresses themes of biography, medical psychology, and historical movements, presenting a nuanced view of how illness can influence creativity and identity.
Official synopsis Publisher
Tormented Hope is a book about mind and body, fear and hope, illness and imagination. It explores, in the stories of nine individuals, the relationship between mind and body as it is mediated by the experience, or simply the terror, of being ill. And in an intimate investigation of those nine lives, it shows how the mind can make a prison of the body, by distorting our sense of ourselves as physical beings. Brian Dillon, whose brilliant debut In the Dark Room established him as an uncommonly intelligent and fluent explorer of the realm where ideas and emotions overlap, looks at nine prominent hypochondriacs – James Boswell, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, Daniel Paul Schreber, Alice James, Marcel Proust, Glenn Gould and Andy Warhol – and what their lives tell us about the way the mind works with, and against, the body. His findings are stimulating and surprising, and the stories he tells are often moving, sometimes hilarious, and always gripping.
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