Grandes personajes de la medicina, grandes lecciones / Great personalities of medicine. Great lessons

Resumen El análisis de tres personajes correspondientes a espacios y tiempos diferentes muestra el estrecho vínculo entre la literatura y la historia de la medicina. Por un lado, don Quijote de la Mancha, quien refleja el pensamiento de los últimos años del Renacimiento y ha sido asimilado en el México contemporáneo. Por otro lado, los doctores Miguel Francisco Jiménez y Rita Levi Montalcini, quienes vivieron en los siglos XIX y XX, respectivamente. A pesar de los años que separan a los tres personaje, se advierten numerosos elementos en común que no pierden vigencia: el valor que se otorga a la salud, la ética, la tenacidad y la experiencia para obtener resultados exitosos, entre otros. Los tres personajes aluden a la medicina de su tiempo, los logros alcanzados y la promoción del humanismo, siempre inherente a la medicina.

Abstract The analysis of three characters corresponding to different spaces and times shows the close link between literature and the history of medicine. On one hand, Don Quixote of La Mancha, who reflects the thought of the last years of the Renaissance and that has been assimilated in contemporary Mexico. On the other hand, Doctors Miguel Francisco Jiménez and Rita Levi Montalcini who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries, respectively. Despite the years that separate these three personalities, many elements in common are observed that do not lose their validity: the value that is given to health, ethics, tenacity and experience to attain successful results. All three characters refer to the medicine of their time, their achievements and the promotion of humanism, always inherent to medicine.

William Shakespeare y la medicina / William Shakespeare and medicine

Si repensamos a escritores que se ocuparon de la medicina, el presente trabajo pretende destacar a William Shakespeare, como un escritor que prácticamente en toda su obra describe en sus personajes problemas de salud de todo tipo. Se harán ciertas referencias de los aspectos médicos desarrollados en la obra del escritor, advirtiendo que son sólo una parte de su extensa producción. (AU)

If we rethink writers who dealt with medicine, this paper intends to highlight William Shakespeare, as a writer who practically describes all kinds of health problems in his characters. Certain references will be made of the medical aspects developed in the writer's work, warning that they are only part of his extensive production. (AU)

Emilio Zola y la influencia de la Medicina en su obra La Fortuna de los Rougon-Macquart / The influence of medicine in Emile Zola's "Fortune of the Rougon-Macquart"

Emile Zola is one of the greatest writers in universal literature. In his important series of novels called "The Fortune of the Rougon-Macquart", Zola shows a surprising medical knowledge even though he did not have a formal medical education. We highlight not only his outstanding literary talent, but also the scientific relevance of the tremendous contribution to the medical field that can be extracted from his work. In this series, which describe the history of five generations within a large family suffering from neuropsychiatric and general pathologies, Zola emphasizes the hereditary component of several diseases. These observations probably place him as the first novelist who made an explicit emphasis on the power of inheritance in human behavior. He also mentions for the first time several medical aspects that were seldom addressed in the scientific literature of the time, demonstrating the genius of the writer, his outstanding power of observation and the rigorous preparation with which he wrote his work.

Los síntomas melancólicos del filósofo en las Intercenales (1424-1439) de Leon Battista Alberti / The melancholy of the philosopher in the Intercenales (1424-1439)

This essay analyzes the presence of the modern concept of melancholy in the Intercenales (1424-1439) by the humanist Leon Battista Alberti. The Intercenales is a collection of satirical, allegorical and moralizing writings composed with the purpose of entertaining an audience of close friends. In spite of the fact that the term "melancholia" does not appear in the text, this paper argues that Alberti's character of "the philosopher" is melancholic, since he is "ill in the soul" (suffering from morbus animi), and his illness is evidenced by a series of physical and psychological symptoms associated with melancholy in the classical and medieval medical traditions. These symptoms are stomach pain, pallor, insomnia, a rich memory, a propensity to study at night, and an ability to have premonitory dreams. With this characterization Alberti promotes a connection between melancholy and being a genius, which is distinctive to the Renaissance and the basis for the modern concept of melancholy. The essay concludes that the ultimate purpose of the Intercenales is to cure, from a literary and philosophical point of view, the illness of the melancholic philosopher.

Thomas Mann y las enfermedades infecciosas en la primera mitad del siglo XX. Parte II: Tuberculosis, cólera, trasplantes / Thomas Mann and the infectious diseases in the first half of 20th. century: second part: tuberculosis, cholera and transplants

Resumen Con seguridad Thomas Mann es hoy en día un escritor olvidado, para los infectólogos y para todo el mundo, con apenas un selecto grupo de poquísimos lectores entre nuestros jóvenes colegas. No les hará mal, a éstos y a aquéllos, sin embargo, adquirir algún conocimiento de las ideas sobre las enfermedades infecciosas en la primera mitad del siglo XX, período en que Mann escribió las obras aquí comentadas: por el contrario puede resultarles particularmente útil si este conocimiento les llega a través de la visión muy personal del germano, quien pone el foco más en el espíritu -la voluntad, el alma en suma- que en el componente físico de la enfermedad, en la miseria corporal, ignorando de paso, desdeñosamente, a las bacterias causantes.

Surely Thomas Mann is today a forgotten writer, with only a little and selected group of readers between our young colleagues. However, perhaps could be useful for the others some knowledge about his vision of the infectious diseases in the first half of the twentieth century, when he wrote the novels here reviewed. Typhoid fever, meningitis, syphilis, tuberculosis and cholera are present in Mann's thematic from Buddenbrooks till Doktor Faustus, always with a personal focus, more on spirit -the will to live- rather than flesh and bones... or bacteria. One of his lasts and minor works let us throw an ironical glance over transplant, no so named, indeed, by Mann, who speaks of "exchange". In this second part we present tuberculosis, cholera and…transplant.

What do Flaubert, Dostoevsky and Machado de Assis have in common with neurology? / O que Flaubert, Dostoevsky and Machado de Assis têm em comum com a neurologia?

ABSTRACT The Frenchman Gustave Flaubert, the Russian Fyodor Dostoevsky and the Brazilian Machado de Assis are known for their immeasurable contributions to literature. However, what most people do not know is that all three authors suffered from epilepsy and were affected by their neurological condition in different ways. We offer a short description of how epilepsy influenced their lives, how they dealt with it and how their neurological condition was present in their novels and correspondence. Their lives are excellent examples of how intimately neurology can be entwined in art and history, and provide an important perspective on patients with epilepsy.

RESUMO O francês Gustave Flaubert, o russo Fyódor Dostoevsky e o brasileiro Machado de Assis são conhecidos pela sua imensurável contribuição para a Literatura. No entanto, o que a maioria das pessoas desconhece é que os três autores sofriam de epilepsia e foram, de diferentes maneiras, afetados por sua condição neurológica. Nós fazemos uma breve descrição de como a epilepsia influenciou suas vidas, como eles lidaram com a doença e como sua condição neurológica estava presente em seus romances e correspondências. Suas vidas são excelentes exemplos de quão íntima pode ser a neurologia da arte e da história e fornecem uma importante visão sobre os pacientes com epilepsia.

Contribuciones literarias, biográficas y autoetnográficas a la antropología médica en España: el caso catalán / Literary, biographic and autoethnographic contributions in Spanish medical anthropology: the case of Catalonia

RESUMEN El método autoetnográfico ha sido un importante aporte al desarrollo de la antropología médica en España. En la primera parte de este artículo, se exploran y revisan documentos habitualmente clasificados como literatura y autobiografías, vinculados a los procesos de salud-enfermedad-atención y publicados antes de 1980, cuyo paradigma es el diario de Ramona Via, Com neixen els Catalans, publicado en 1972. La segunda parte se enfoca en las contribuciones desarrolladas desde la década de 1980, a partir del concepto de autoetnografía, cuyos objetos son el cuerpo, la salud y la enfermedad a partir de la experiencia etnográfica subjetiva. A diferencia del primer periodo, éste se caracteriza por el surgimiento de autores antropólogos que han impulsado el desarrollo de este método legitimado desde la escuela de Tarragona, y concretizado en el primer congreso español de autoetnografía en 2015.

ABSTRACT The autoethnographic method has been an important contribution to the development of medical anthropology in Spain. This article first reviews and explores documents published before 1980 that are usually classified as literature and autobiography and are linked to the health-disease-care process, a paradigmatic example of which is Ramona Via's diary Com neixen els Catalans [How Catalans are born] published in 1972. The second part of the article is focused on contributions carried out since the 1980s using the concept of autoethnography, which have as their object the body, health and illness based on a subjective ethnographic experience. This period, unlike the first, is characterized by the emergence of anthropologist authors who have promoted the development of this method, legitimized by the Tarragona School and substantialized in the first Spanish conference of autoethnography in 2015.