From Acedia to Schizophrenia Cover Image

Héritage de l’acédie. Exemple de romans des années soixante traitant de schizophrénie
From Acedia to Schizophrenia

Author(s): Jeanne Weeber
Subject(s): Cultural history, Social history, Comparative Study of Literature, French Literature, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: acedia; schizophrenia; Marguerite Duras; melancholy; Michel Foucault

Summary/Abstract: The experiences of the medieval acedia and the modern schizophrenia present some resemblances in their symptoms. The literature of the twentieth century offers figures of schizophrenic whose representation includes traditional patterns of the acedia : isolation, boredom, detachment, visions... The study of the nature of the disorder of female characters in works of the sixties by Marguerite Duras (France), Janet Frame (New Zealand), Sylvia Plath (United States of America) or Jennifer Dawson (Great‐Britain) reveals the legacy of the acedia in the imagination of contemporary writers. Moreover, it questions the psychopathological conception of schizophrenia and reveals its moral, spiritual and social aspects.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 11
  • Page Range: 309-325
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: French
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