title: [The madman of Itaguaí, history, madness, and psychiatric knowledge: historiographic dialogues about "The Alienist," by Machado de Assis].
abstract: From the early 1970s until more recently, historiography (which is not always written by historians) has investigated the psychiatric intervention practices that prevailed in Brazil from the latter half of the nineteenth century through the early twentieth, along with their theoretical foundations and the underlying logics of power and sociability. The article analyzes the novella "The Alienist," by Machado de Assis, by engaging in dialogue with this field. The book is interpreted as a robust and eminently critical "historical witness" of the early emergence of mental health medicine in Brazil and its institutional correlate, the asylum.
authors: Pesquisador, Laboratório de Educação Profissional em Atenção à Saúde/Escola Politécnica de Saúde Joaquim Venâncio/Fiocruz. Avenida Brasil, 4365 21040-900 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil. zeroberto@fiocruz.br.
authors: José Roberto Franco
authors: JR
authors: Reis
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D005197:Famous Persons; D006663:Historiography; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history*; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D011584:Psychology / Q000266:history*