Richard Selzer Reader (eBook)

Blood and Ink

Kevin Kerrane (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
376 Seiten
University of Delaware Press (Verlag)
978-1-61149-643-7 (ISBN)

Infos

In the 1960s, while practicing as a general surgeon and teaching surgery at the Yale School of Medicine, Richard Selzer began publishing unique creative work in magazines such as Harper’s and Esquire. This volume is a definitive collection of essays, stories, public lectures, and final diary entries by the renowned surgeon and imaginative writer. Each of the book’s nine topical sections is prefaced by an overview of themes and patterns in Selzer’s work.

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A Richard Selzer Reader: Blood and Ink is a career-spanning collection, including major short stories and essays by the renowned doctor-author. In the 1960s, while practicing as a general surgeon and teaching surgery at the Yale School of Medicine, Richard Selzer began publishing unique creative work in magazines such as Harper's and Esquire. By 1985, when he retired as a physician to devote himself completely to writing, Selzer was already recognized as a pioneer in the field of medical humanities. When he died in 2016, as the author of 13 books, his influence was acknowledged by a younger generation of doctor-writers like Abraham Verghese and Atul Gawande.Selzer's unusual style fuses scientific and poetic language. Drawing on favorite readings, from the King James Bible to the tales of Edgar Allen Poe, he used this style to convey a sense of awe at the beauty and complexity of the human body, even in the midst of suffering. While describing himself as an atheist, Selzer always searched for "e;sacramental"e; moments of courtesy, courage, and grace in medical encounters. Because he often looked critically at the failure of doctors to regard the full humanity of their patients, Selzer's work has become required reading in many medical training programs.A Richard Selzer Reader includesseveral of the author's most famous essays and stories, as well as two dozen selections that have not been collected in his previous books. Chronologically, the material ranges from apprenticeship stories (as far back as a high-school composition) to two odd self-portraits that remained unpublished at the time of Selzer's death.Topically, the material ranges from meditations on the body, and on human mortality, to reflections on both medicine and writing as serious vocations. Along the way, Selzer celebrates the work of other doctor-writers, like Thomas Browne and Anton Chekhov, and in a series of previously unpublished diary entries he discusses the joys of nature, art, and family as bulwarks against the difficulties of growing old.

Autor

Kevin Kerrane is professor of English at University of Delaware.

Inhalt

AcknowledgmentsEditor’s Preface Introduction: “The Writer Richard Selzer: High, Low, and Mighty” by Marie BorroffChronology PrologueThe Pen and the ScalpelPart 1: ApprenticeshipOn the WireJonah and the WhaleA Single Minute of FearFairviewPart 2: Anatomy Lessons LiverBoneHow Proudly It Heals: In Praise of the Body RepublicA Mother’s FuryLeonardo’s DrawingsFlesh Holds the Truth, MortalityThe CorpseThe Ivory CrucifixionPart 3: Being a Doctor A Hero in a RowboatEmergency MedicineMercyTaking the World in for RepairsImeldaThree Doctors: Conan Doyle, Watson, and MeReflections on DoctoringPart 4: IlluminationsAt St. Mary’sLongfellow, Virgil, and Me Fetishes Four Appointments with the Discus ThrowerWhither Thou GoestRisenAtrium: October 2001Part 5: Being a WriterMeditations on StyleFive Finger ExercisesTo a Would-Be Doctor/ WriterNotes for a Writing WorkshopRemembrance of Things Wounded with Wonder: Richard Selzer Interviewed by Peter Josyph Part 6: Homage Afterlife of The Black SwanA Tale of Two Cities RevisitedCrimean VespersPart 7: Diary EntriesEarly Entries, Undated2009201020112012Part 8: Two Unpublished StoriesHalf MoonMister Stitches

Produkt-Details

• Einführung: Marie Borroff
• Zusatzinfo: 1 Illustrations including: - 1 Halftones, Black & White including Black & White Photographs.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Schlagworte: Contemporary American Literature • Fiction • Literary Studies • Medical Humanities
• ISBN-10: 1-61149-643-8 / 1611496438
• ISBN-13: 978-1-61149-643-7 / 9781611496437