Patología, escritura y género en el fin de siglo: Alma contemporánea y Manual del perfecto enfermo

Authors

  • Alba del Pozo García Centre Dona i Literatura

Abstract

This paper analyses two Spanish essays on illness published during the fin de siècle: José María Llanas Aguilaniedo’s 1899 Alma contemporánea and Rafael Urbano’s 1911 Manual del perfecto enfermo. The focus lies on how masculine neurosis is read as a sign of modern struggles in a fin de siècle culture characterized by the hegemony of medical discourses and the relationship between genius, artistic production, and psychiatric pathologies. Both texts are associated to medical discourses and suggest healing strategies. In this scope, the typical ill/health opposition undergoes a critical turn. In fact, these texts depict a notion of illness that undermines medical rhetoric, placing illness in the field of subjectivity, writing and identity.

Keywords:

Spanish literature, fin de siècle, illness, José María Llanas Aguilaniedo, Rafael urbano