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Doctors, Malady, and Creativity in Rachilde

Doctors, Malady, and Creativity in Rachilde <p>This article explores the significance of the medical discourse of hysteria, pathological sexuality and mental imbalance in Rachilde&apos;s works. The departure point is the hysterical attack she suffered about 1882, complicated by paralysis, and her treatment by the famous hysteria and paralysis specialist, Dr. Charles Las&#x000E8;gue. I trace the evolution in her works of the figure of leglessness as sexual renunciation/sexual perversion and argue that La Marquise de Sade contains a story of inherited physical and sexual abnormality with masked references to Drs. Blanche and Las&#x000E8;gue and to the deranged mass murderer Jean-Baptiste Troppmann. The article demonstrates how Rachilde&apos;s early sense of "writing as malady" was overtaken by the understanding that dreams and the unconscious could be a valid source of creativity (MRF).</p> http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nineteenth-Century French Studies University of Nebraska Press

Doctors, Malady, and Creativity in Rachilde

Finn, Michael R.
Nineteenth-Century French Studies , Volume 34 (1) – Nov 14, 2005
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Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 The University of Nebraska Press.
ISSN
1536-0172

Abstract

<p>This article explores the significance of the medical discourse of hysteria, pathological sexuality and mental imbalance in Rachilde&apos;s works. The departure point is the hysterical attack she suffered about 1882, complicated by paralysis, and her treatment by the famous hysteria and paralysis specialist, Dr. Charles Las&#x000E8;gue. I trace the evolution in her works of the figure of leglessness as sexual renunciation/sexual perversion and argue that La Marquise de Sade contains a story of inherited physical and sexual abnormality with masked references to Drs. Blanche and Las&#x000E8;gue and to the deranged mass murderer Jean-Baptiste Troppmann. The article demonstrates how Rachilde&apos;s early sense of "writing as malady" was overtaken by the understanding that dreams and the unconscious could be a valid source of creativity (MRF).</p>

Journal

Nineteenth-Century French Studies – University of Nebraska Press

Published: Nov 14, 2005

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