title: Les malades imagines: diseases in fiction.
abstract: Writers often introduce into fiction works characters who suffer from one disease or another. The purpose of this literary finesse is to enrich the intrigue or to create a favourable environment for the observation of a group of human beings. The introduction of the sick person sometimes offers a chance to warn against venereal diseases or alcoholism or an opportunity to critize medicine and doctors. The writers more exceptionally express visionary views on the future of medicine. This paper selects a few interesting examples of "imagined diseases".
authors.affiliation: Rene.Kremer@smd.ucl.ac.be
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krémer
mesh_terms: D001325:Autobiographies as Topic; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history*; D008513:Medicine in Literature