title: Marcel Proust (1871-1922): reassessment of his asthma and other maladies.
abstract: Marcel Proust endured severe allergies and bronchial asthma from early childhood. Those who suffer from the frightening and recurrent pangs of asthma often become dependent on their parents particularly mother; Proust was no exception. In his time asthma was poorly understood by physicians who considered the illness to be a type of hysteria. Decades later, we now understand that the severe, poorly controlled, suffocating episodes of asthma were responsible for the complex persona that Marcel Proust had assumed.
authors.affiliation: USC School of Medicine, LAC+USC Medical Centre, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications / Q000266:history*; D010505:Familial Mediterranean Fever / Q000266:history*; D005197:Famous Persons; D005602:France; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000266:history; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history