The Body in the Library A Literary Anthology of Modern Medicine [Paperback]

The Body in the Library provides a nuanced and realistic picture of how medicine and society have abetted and thwarted each other ever since the lawyers behind the French Revolution banished the clergy and replaced them with doctors, priests of the body. Ranging from Charles Dickens to Oliver Sacks, Anton Chekhov to Raymond Queneau, Fanny Burney to Virginia Woolf, Miguel Torga to Guido Ceronetti,The Body in the Libraryis an anthology of poems, stories, journal entries, Socratic dialogue, table-talk, clinical vignettes, aphorisms, and excerpts written by doctor-writers themselves.

Engaging and provocative, philosophical and instructive, intermittently funny and sometimes appalling, this anthology sets out to stimulate and entertain. With an acerbic introduction and witty contextual preface to each account, it will educate both patients and doctors curious to know more about the historical dimensions of medical practice. Armed with a first-hand experience of liberal medicine and knowledge of several languages, Iain Bamforth has scoured the literatures of Europe to provide a well-rounded and cross-cultural sense of what it means to be a doctor entering the twenty-first century.Iain Bamforthis a doctor who has worked across Europe and Australia. His essays and reviews have appeared in a variety of medical and literary publications includingThe Lancet,Times Literary Supplement,London Review of Books, andNew York Times. He is the author of several books of poetry and has received a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and an Eric Gregory Award.

Samuel Beckettwas born in Ireland in 1906. His playsWaiting for GodotandEndgamerevolutionized modern theater, and his trilogy—Molloy,Mallone Dies, andThe Unnamable—ranks among the major works of twentieth century fiction. He died in Paris in 1989.

Bertolt Brecht(1898–1956) was a German poet, playl!