title: Marcel Proust's fictional diseases and doctors.
abstract: Marcel Proust (1875-1922), the son and brother of famous physicians, had close and continuous contact with medicine and doctors in connection with chronic asthma, neurasthenia, medical 'tourism', and self-medication. This proximity to medical issues is obvious in his work, particularly his novel In Search of Lost Time, which today is still considered one of the most important literary works ever. In this novel, medicine, patients, and doctors are everywhere, and it can be claimed that while it is often considered to be the great novel of memory, medicine in itself also can be seen as a true character of the story, in which Proust displays surprisingly extensive knowledge. Neurasthenia and asthma (i.e. Proust's diseases), as well as specific neurological disorders, such as stroke, migraine, epilepsy, and dementia, appear in the novel. The disease of the narrator's grandmother remains a piece of anthology, and probably remains the best literary report of a progressive stroke leading to death. Proust also quoted neurological conditions which were virtually unreported in his time, such as phantom limb syndrome and poststroke depression associated with aphasia in Baron Charlus. Doctors are nearly systematically depicted as incompetent and superficial, characteristics which appear to increase with academic titles and glory. The main physician of the novel, Professor Cottard, even ends up writing fake certificates for his rich friend Mrs. Verdurin during World War I so that she can obtain fresh croissants for breakfast, while poor people around her are starving. When called to examine a dying patient, one of the real doctors of the novel, Professor Dieulafoy, says and does nothing except ask for his fees. This defiance and criticism of physicians were indeed those of Proust in real life.
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain and Nervous System Diseases, GSMN Neurocenter, Clinique Valmont, Glion/Montreux, Switzerland. jbogousslavsky@cliniquevalmont.ch
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bogousslavsky
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000266:history*; D005197:Famous Persons; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000266:history; D009440:Neurasthenia / Q000266:history; D010820:Physicians / Q000266:history*