The doctor in American literature

107 Pages·05.94 MB·English

by  Lay, D. M.

THE DOCTOR IN AMERICAN LITERATURE
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of English
The U niversity of Southern C alifornia
In P artial Fulfillm ent
of the Req.uirem.ents for the Degree’
Master of Arts
hy
Donald M. Lay, Jr
June 1942
UMI Number: EP44186
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TABLE OP CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER PAGE
I, THE DRAMA OP MEDICINE IN LITERATURE . . . . * . 1
Part I. The history of raedieine. . . . . . I
Part II. Medical school, the hospital,
the doctor . . ..................... 7
II. THE DOCTOR AS A FIGURE IN LITERATURE . . . . . 17
Part I. The country doctor, the
general practition er . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Part II. The doctor as a romantic hero . . . SO
Part III. The doctor as a medical
hero ................................................ 26
Part IT. The doctor as a social force . . . . 32
Part 7. The degenerate physician . .................... 36
Part VI. The "mad" d o c to r...................... 40
III. THE DOCTOR AS AUTHOR...................................................... 44
Part I. L iterary propaganda for
the "new m e d ic in e "..................... 44
Part II. Reminiscences, memoirs,
le tte rs, a u to b io g rap h ies . 58
l i i
CHAPTER PAGE
Part EX. Formal biography..................... 68
Part IV. The doctor as novelist . . . . . . . 70
m
IV. CONCLUSION . ......... . . . . . * .........
BIBLIOGRAPHY I. Arranged according to sections . . . 88
BIBLIOGRAPHY II. Arranged according to alphabetical
sequence.......................... 93.
INTRODUCTION
No career, mode of lif e or profession is comparable
to that of a doctor. In the firs t place, i t is v ita l,
constantly dealing with life and death,-"Death* the giver
1
of Life, the slayer of L ife, the beginning and the end."
Such .an existence affects profoundly the psychology and
a c tiv itie s of the p articip an ts. Therefore, the doctor, as
an author, creates lite ra tu re from an unique point of view
and, as a lite ra ry figure, gives us an interesting charac­
te r. In the second place, the profession is constantly ex­
citin g . A doctor who is interested in his work, liv es an
fascinating career, going through one adventure after an­
other. He is always concerned with people, th eir eccentric­
itie s , in firm ities, foibles; consequently, he often learns
to know them b etter than they know themselves. He becomes
an important part of th e ir liv es, often a v ita l influence
in determining they sh all live happily or unhappily — or
sh all even continue to exist at a ll!
The p o ssib ilities for an eventful life become nearly
in fin ite . Finally, his work is constructive; a good doctor
contributes immeasurably to the ease and security of exist­
ence. He can teach many lessons, set good examples, and
^ Axel Munthe, M.D., The Story of San Michele.
(E. P. Dutton and Company, 1930), p. 178.
V
give valuable advice, both physiological and psychological.
Unfortunately, It is a ll too seldom that many of our medical
men take advantage of these p o ssib ilitie s.
The position of a prominent physician is Illu strated
by Dr. Axel Munthe:
«Tell us a story," said the Baroness, as we were sittin g
in the drawing room afte r dinner. "You doctors come
across so many odd people and are mixed up in so many
strange situ atio n s. You know more of real life than any­
body else. I am sure you have a lo t to te ll us if you
want to."*
I t is the everyday excitement of medical life or easing
pain, saving lives, working 'scien tific magic which also makes
it one of the most fe rtile field s for lite ra ry endeavor. Dur­
ing the last twenty years, through the media of book,_stage,
screen, and radioj neaxly every kind of imaginable kind of
approach has been made to the subject of medicine.
It Is the purpose of th is study to discuss the most
outstanding of these works, classif ying them more or less.as
tojsublect^-nyatter and..type. It w ill..attem pt_tq follow_the
trends and development of general lite ra ry in terest and in­
dicate, the causes for the value or popularity of certain
works. It w ill give an insight into the_difference between
the doctor as a layman sees him and as he aotdaily i s ; how
2
Axel Munthe, M. D., The Story of San Michele. (E.
P. Dutton and Company, 1930), p. fcl".
vi
he appears in lite ra tu re and how he appears to himself* It
w ill analyze the hest purely lite ra ry works that have been
w ritten about doctors and the practice of medicine, when­
ever possible, considering the authors, th eir backgrounds,
lives and ideas. Finally, it w ill discuss the significance
of recent lite ra tu re in the novels, autobiographies, and
biographies w ritten byodoctorsoabout th e ir profession and its
problems. Because of the vast te rrito ry covered by the sub­
ject, the conclusions must be general rather than specific
or summed up in s ta tis tic s .
® The Ju stificatio n for making th is study lie s in the
fact th at, because of the recent tremendous progress which
has been made in the field of medicine and because of the
significance of th is progress for human beings, people have
shown a great in terest in the subject of doctors and th eir
work and demand information about i t . This information is
interesting and comprehensible to them only when it is pre­
sented in terms of th eir own experience; that is, through the
? -r'?v ^ OTi'i '
,<»
lite ra tu re of biographical or fictio n al narrative, which deals
with the subject in connection with human beings and th eir
adventures, related in a simple, non-technical manner.
There has been a great deal of th is sort of lite ra ­
tu re and it has contributed tremendously to the entertain­
ment, instruction, and inspiration of civilized men and
women. These works have appeared in almost every conceivable
vii
L iterary form.; the novel has been the most popular; biography
and autobiography have also been given much attention; the
moving pictures bring them to a gigantic audience; drama has
also brought them before a great number of people; even poetry
has made its contribution* Therefore, since th is subject of
the doctor and his profession is so extremely popular and is
so widely exploited in a ll lite ra ry forms - and hence comes
before such a vast public - further Ju stificatio n for the
study of th is topic need hardly be sought* The importance
of the problem is obvious to anyone who has received the miracu-
lous benefits of modern medicine, who has admired the s k ill (
and knowledge of the doctor, who has imagined a world where such
s k ill and knowledge did not exist, and who has read even so
l i t t l e as a jo u rn alist's review of such a book as The citadel
or The Story of San Michele*
Perhaps X sh all be accused of idealizing the doctor
and the importance of medicine. Some w ill say that there
are s t i l l many doctors who know so li tt l e that the equipment
of modern medicine becomes an armory of deadly weapons in
th eir hands. Such men may be mote dangerous to society than
the fifteen th century physicians who crowded five or six
patients, with different diseases and of differing sexes,
into one bed in the H&tel Dieu in P aris. Others w ill observe
that there are mhny dishonest doctors who tre a t th eir patients
for imaginary diseases and take th eir money; while others w ill
viii
note, and perhaps with ju stificatio n , that more and more doc­
to rs enter the profession with primary eoneern for making
money, and with few philanthropic motives, A few w ill even
assert that there are doctors who are absolutely vicious, and
who deliberately murder and destroy with th eir medical s k ill.
The existence of such types of men must be admitted, and, as
we shall see, they are a ll represented in lite ra tu re . But in
such a study as th is, which deals prim arily with the major
works, the outlook is necessarily positive rather than negative.
The valuable lite ra tu re in th is field is concerned with the
greatness of medicine, its progress, its contributions, its
outstanding personalities, and therefore, the meaner aspects
do not receive so much atten tio n . For the purpose of th is
study, the best lite ra tu re is the noble expression of noble
subjects, noble events, and noble personages.
« This study is concerned prim arily with individual books
and th e ir analyses. These are considered separately, in
succession, the t i tl e and author being mentioned at the be­
ginning of each discussion. Therefore, the need for foot­
notes is very lim ited. A complete bibliography w ill serve
as an adequate means of identification of the various works.
I t Jjiay be observed th at there is a dearth of quotations.
It is too often a tem ptation to f i l l the pages of a thesis
with quotations, most of which are generally superfluous.
There have been very few opportunities to insert quotations