A Karger 'Publishing Highlights 1890–2015' title The study of how a neurological disorder can change the artistic activity and behavior of creative people is a largely unexplored field. This publication looks closer at famous painters, writers, composers and philosophers of the 18th to the 20th centuries who suffered from neurological diseases such as stroke, epilepsy, brain trauma and dementia. The diseases of Gershwin, Kant, Musorgsky, Poe, Ravel, Van Gogh and many more are diagnosed in retrospect and treatment options according to modern medical technologies are discussed.
Presenting fascinating insights into the relationship between brain disease and creativity in famous minds, this publication is highly recommended to neurologists, psychiatrists, physicians as well as to everybody interested in art, music and literature.
65 - 75: Dostoevsky and Epilepsy: An Attempt to Look Through the Frame
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Published:2005
Andrea O. Rossetti, Julien Bogousslavsky, 2005. "Dostoevsky and Epilepsy: An Attempt to Look Through the Frame", Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists, J. Bogousslavsky, F. Boller
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Abstract
Fyodor Mihailovich Dostoevsky, one of the greatest novelists of all times, had a uniqueability to depict the social and moral conditions of 19th-century Russia, and anticipated withhis writings many philosophical and scientific developments, such as existentialism and psychoanalysis.The study of auto- and hetero-biographic reports, as well as of his literary production,suggests that he suffered from epilepsy since his mid-20s. Most of his seizures weredescribed as generalized convulsive; however, many features, such as the presence of an‘ecstatic’ aura, a pallor preceding the generalization, and especially a postictal dysphasia,point to a dominant (mesio-) temporal lobe origin. Although Dostoevsky in his late yearscomplained of progressive memory impairment, he was able to write with his usual clevernessuntil the end of his life, when he succumbed to a chronic lung disorder. From an epileptologicalpoint of view, this uncommon relatively benign evolution is noteworthy, and itoffers an insight to the natural course of this illness. A natural course that is mostly unknownin our times, as the availability of antiepileptic drugs and surgery has biased our knowledge.The relationship between epilepsy and Dostoevsky’s production is twofold. Firstly, as he hada tendency towards autobiographical descriptions not only of facts but also of thoughts, hisnovels represent a valuable source for the understanding of his illness. Secondly, his workscontribute greatly to the de-stigmatization of patients with epilepsy.
