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Essays in Myth and Medicine
by Cecil Helman
Paraview Special Editions
ISBN: 193104483X
Culture, 156 pages
Trade paperback, $14.95
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ABOUT THE
BOOK
Frankenstein. Werewolves. Dracula. These images aren’t just imaginary creatures
-- they’re also powerful symbols of the body. The body can be thought of as a
machine made up of parts like Frankenstein’s monster, or as a creature ruled by
animalistic urges, or as an entity that’s vulnerable to infection from a
diseased fiend. In The Body of Frankenstein’s Monster, Cecil Helman,
M.D., expands our view of our bodies by exploring its cultural and artistic
representations. His lyrical essays draw on images from literature, art,
history, myth, television, and film to provide new insights into our physical
selves. Helman explores how X-rays create a snapshot of our future, why we use
germs to express our modern anxieties, how the machine metaphor has changed the
doctor-patient relationship, and how anatomical dissection is influenced by the
political climate. Deeply personal and original, The Body of Frankenstein’s
Monster reconnects the body to myth, art, and imagination.
REVIEWS
“[Helman] has the rare gift of looking inwards and then outwards, turning
clinical experience into a kind of poetry. In this he resembles Oliver
Sacks….His language is delicious.” -- The Times (London)
“These inquisitive essays are a strong antidote to modern medicine’s tendency to
treat the body as a machine….Helman undertakes poetic, cross-disciplinary forays
for high-tech medicine’s connections to myth, magic and medicine.” --
Publishers Weekly
“Helman…draws on his wide-ranging interests to offer a vivid, personable, and
insightful exploration of physiology and fiction….With its sweep, perception,
originality, and felicitous use of language--an artistic and intellectual
achievement.” -- Kirkus Reviews
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Cecil Helman, M.D., is a London-based physician and medical
anthropologist. He is the author of the textbook Culture,
Health, and Illness, as well as of a novella, a book of short
stories, and a collection of prose poems, and he edited Doctors
and Patients: An Anthology, and his writing has appeared in
many magazines including Vogue (UK) and The London
Magazine. He holds academic posts at the Royal Free and
University College Medical School and Brunel University, and has
been a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Medical School.
Read about
Cecil Helman's recent
award in medical anthropology!
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