Lost words : narratives of language and the brain, 1825-1926
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Bibliographic Information
Lost words : narratives of language and the brain, 1825-1926
Princeton University Press, 2000
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Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In the mid-nineteenth century, physicians observed numerous cases in which individuals lost the ability to form spoken words, even as they remained sane and healthy in most other ways. By studying this condition, which came to be known as 'aphasia,' neurologists were able to show that functions of mind were rooted in localized areas of the brain. Here L. S. Jacyna analyzes medical writings on aphasia to illuminate modern scientific discourse on the relations between language and the brain, from the very beginnings of this discussion through World War I. Viewing these texts as literature - complete with guiding metaphors and rhetorical strategies - Jacyna reveals the power they exerted on the ways in which the human subject was constructed in medicine.Jacyna submits the medical texts to various critical readings and provides a review of the pictorial representation involved with the creation of aphasiology. He considers the scientific, experimental, and clinical aspects of this new field, together with the cultural, professional, and political dimensions of what would become the authoritative discourse about language and the brain.
At the core of the study is an inquiry into the processes whereby men and women suffering from language loss were transformed into the 'aphasic,' an entity amenable to scientific scrutiny and capable of yielding insights about the fundamental workings of the brain. But what became of the subject's human identity? "Lost Words" explores the links among language, humanity, and mental presence that make the aphasiological project one of continuing fascination.
Table of Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii ACKNOWLEDMENTS ix Introduction 3 The Historiography of Aphasia 12 Chapter One Construing Silence 22 Talking to Your Self
- Talking to Other Selves 25 Lordat's Philosophy Medicine 32 Medicine as Science 36 Losing the Self 38 Legislating for Speech 44 Conclusion 48 Chapter Two "The Word Turned Upside Dawn" 53 Word, Reason, Power 54 Materializing the Word 62 The Grotesque Symposium 66 Conclusion 76 Chapter Three The Discourse of Aphasia 81 Building an Archive 84 The Classificatory Imperative 94 Disciplinary Designs 96 Narrative Devices 103 Case Law 114 Conclusion 117 Chapter Four John Hughlings Jackson and the Predicament of the "Speechless Man" 123 Jackson's Way of Writing 126 The Duality of Mind 130 Word, Will and Power 132 The Predicament of the Speechless Man 137 Conclusion 142 Chapter Five Head Wounds 146 Aphasia: Befeore and After 148 Finding the Ideal Patient 150 Technologies of Inquiry 157 The Varieties of Aphasia 161 Constructing Pathology 162 Conclusion 167 Chapter Six Dissonant Voices 171 Freud's Zur Auffasung der Aphasien 174 Marie's Travaux et Memories 181 Bergen's Matter of Memory 194 Chapter Seven Making Good 204 Heroic Measures 207 Talking Cures 214 Conclusion 222 Conclusion 231 Index 239
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