Neurological Disorders In Famous Artists (Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience), Part 1

201 Pages·2005·2.92 MB·English

by  Julien Bogousslavsky

Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists
Frontiers of Neurology and
Neuroscience
1
Vol. 9
Series Editor
J. Bogousslavsky Lausanne
Neurological Disorders
in Famous Artists
Volume Editors
J. Bogousslavsky Lausanne
F. Boller Paris
38 figures, 14 in color, and 3 tables, 2005
Basel·Freiburg·Paris·London·New York·
Bangalore·Bangkok·Singapore·Tokyo·Sydney
Prof.Julien Bogousslavsky Prof.François Boller
Department of Neurology INSERM Unit 549
CHUV Centre Paul Broca
CH-1011 Lausanne (Switzerland) FR-75014 Paris (France)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neurological disorders in famous artists / volume editors, J. Bogousslavsky,
F. Boller.
p. ; cm. – (Frontiers of neurology and neuroscience ; v. 19)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-8055-7914-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Nervous system–Diseases 2. Artists–Diseases
[DNLM: 1. Famous Persons–Case Reports. 2. Nervous System Diseases–Case
Reports. ] I. Bogousslavsky, Julien. II. Boller, François. III. Series.
RC359.N46 2005
616.8–dc22
2005002444
Bibliographic Indices. This publication is listed in bibliographic services, including Current Contents®and
Index Medicus.
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or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
© Copyright 2005 by S. Karger AG, P.O. Box, CH–4009 Basel (Switzerland)
www.karger.com
Printed in Switzerland on acid-free paper by Reinhardt Druck, Basel
ISSN 1660–4431
ISBN 3–8055–7914–4
Contents
VII Preface
1 Guillaume Apollinaire,the Lover Assassinated
Bogousslavsky, J. (Lausanne)
9 Guy de Maupassant and Friedrich Nietzsche.A Comparison of
Two Cases of 19th-Century General Paresis
Hayden, D. (San Anselmo, Calif.)
17 The One-Man Band of Pain.Alphonse Daudet and
His Painful Experience of Tabes dorsalis
Dieguez, S.; Bogousslavsky, J. (Lausanne)
46 Gustave Flaubert’s Hidden Sickness
Jallon, P. (Geneva); Jallon, H. (Paris)
57 Edgar Allan Poe:Substance Abuse versus Epilepsy
Bazil, C.W. (New York, N.Y.)
65 Dostoevsky and Epilepsy:An Attempt to Look Through the Frame
Rossetti, A.O. (Boston, Mass.); Bogousslavsky, J. (Lausanne)
76 Immanuel Kant:Evolution from a Personality ‘Disorder’
to a Dementia
Guard, O.; Boller, F. (Paris)
85 Valery Larbaud
Boller, F. (Paris)
V
92 Alajouanine’s Painter:Paul-Elie Gernez
Boller, F. (Paris)
101 Carolus Horn – When the Images in the Brain Decay.Evidence of
Backward-Development of Visual and Cognitive Functions in Alzheimer’s Disease
Maurer, K.; Prvulovic, D. (Frankfurt)
112 Major Depression and Stroke in Caspar David Friedrich
Dahlenburg, B.; Spitzer, C. (Greifswald)
121 Understanding Van Gogh’s Night:Bipolar Disorder
Carota, A. (Lausanne); Iaria, G. (Rome); Berney, A.;
Bogousslavsky, J. (Lausanne)
132 The Terminal Illness and Last Compositions of Maurice Ravel
Baeck, E. (Antwerp)
141 The Decay and Death of Modest Musorgsky
Baeck, E. (Antwerp)
150 Georg Friedrich Händel’s Strokes
Bäzner, H.; Hennerici, M. (Mannheim)
160 The Subcortical Vascular Encephalopathy of
Joseph Haydn – Pathographic Illustration of the Syndrome
Bäzner, H.; Hennerici, M. (Mannheim)
172 Music and the Brain:Gershwin and Shebalin
Ruiz, E.; Montañés, P. (Bogotá)
179 Robert Schumann’s Focal Dystonia
Altenmüller, E. (Hannover)
189 Author Index
190 Subject Index
Contents VI
Preface
Art, creativity and neurology may seem widely different topics at first sight.
However, it is obvious that art originates in the brain. Therefore, disorders of the
nervous system often influence the preparation and development of artistic activ-
ities because they may alter motor, sensory, and above all, cognitive, functions.
The creativity of painters, musicians, writers, poets, and other artists is the
magnified expression of one of the ‘highest’ brain functions in the human
being, and it is understandable that brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerve dis-
ease may have subtle or overt influences on artistic production. While every
clinician has indeed observed instances of altered or modified creative abilities
in individual patients with acute or chronic neurological disease, one of the best
ways to address the problem probably is to have a closer look at famous artists,
whose activity and production has changed (or has failed to do so) after the
development of a lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system.
In the following chapters, the impact of various neurological diseases such
as stroke, epilepsy, brain trauma, dementia, and other problems in famous
artists (writers, philosophers, painters, and composers) is presented through the
lens of changes in their behavior and in their production. Some ‘cases’such as
Ravel or van Gogh are already famous, but the nature of their disease has
remained somewhat controversial. Other artists with a neurological disorder
have been much less well studied, including Apollinaire, Daudet, Gernez, Haydn,
or Kant, to quote only a few.
There is no such a thing as a ‘creativity center’in the brain, and the pro-
duction of an art work obviously requires a ‘global’brain functioning, about
which we are still lacking much knowledge. However, it is also striking to
observe how a localized damage to the brain or other nervous structures has led
VII
to subtle or dramatic changes in creativity and artistic production in many
famous artists. Between ‘neurology of history’and ‘history of neurology’, the
study of how a neurological disorder can alter productivity in recognized artists
and other creative people is a largely unexplored field. We hope that this book
will represent a useful contribution to this domain.
Julien Bogousslavsky
François Boller
Preface VIII
Bogousslavsky J, Boller F (eds): Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists.
Front Neurol Neurosci. Basel, Karger, 2005, vol 19, pp 1–8
Guillaume Apollinaire, the Lover
Assassinated
Julien Bogousslavsky
Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
Abstract
The nature and the neurological consequences of the shell wound to the head of the
famous French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, on March 17, 1916, during World War I, remains
unclear. However, his contemporaries and biographers have been unanimous in stating that
this event affected a major shift in his life. His personality and behavior changed dramati-
cally, and his affective relationships were deeply modified, the most significant example
being his rapid disinterest for his fiancée Madeleine, to whom he had written passionate let-
ters nearly every day before the trauma. The study of Apollinaire’s letters, scarce medical
reports, available memories from friends, and Apollinaire’s helmet allow one to better under-
stand the type of brain lesion he had and why neurobehavioral dysfunction developed. While
an ‘intracranial abscess’had been emphasized initially, clinical manifestations, free interval,
no infectious problems, and quick resolution of hemiparesis and seizures after a burr hole
was performed strongly suggest a chronic subdural hematoma in the right temporal region.
Irritability, susceptibility, emotional intolerance, affect flattening, anxiety, and personality
change fit perfectly with the diagnosis of right temporal lobe dysfunction involving the
lateral-basal area. Sparing of the mesial-temporal, parietal, and frontal regions explains the
absence of significant memory, cognitive, and executive impairment, without disturbing his
creative skills as a poet and art writer. This cognitive-affective dissociation secondary to
isolated right temporal post-traumatic lesion allows one to delineate the ‘deep sorrow’of
Apollinaire during the two and a half years before he died of Spanish influenza in 1918.
Copyright © 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitsky, 1880–1918),
one of the greatest French poets of all time, was wounded in the head during
World War I, after which his personality and behavior changed dramatically,
until his premature death from Spanish influenza 2 years later. While the nature
and the neurological consequences of the wound remain partially unknown,
Apollinaire’s contemporaries have been unanimous in stating that this event was