Lost words: narratives of language and the brain, 1825-1926

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. TITLE......Page 4 COPYRIGHT......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 The Historiography of Aphasia......Page 23 ONE: Construing Silence......Page 33 Talking to Your Self; Talking to Other Selves......Page 36 Lordat’s Philosophy of Medicine......Page 43 Medicine as Science......Page 47 Losing the Self......Page 49 Legislating for Speech......Page 55 Conclusion......Page 59 TWO: “The Word Turned Upside Down”......Page 64 Word, Reason, Power......Page 65 Materializing the Word......Page 73 The Grotesque Symposium......Page 77 Conclusion......Page 87 THREE: The Discourse of Aphasia......Page 92 Building an Archive......Page 95 The Classificatory Imperative......Page 105 Disciplinary Designs......Page 107 Narrative Devices......Page 114 Case Law......Page 125 Conclusion......Page 128 FOUR: John Hughlings Jackson and the Predicament of the “Speechless Man”......Page 134 Jackson’s Way of Writing......Page 137 The Duality of Mind......Page 141 Word, Will and Power......Page 143 The Predicament of the Speechless Man......Page 148 Conclusion......Page 153 FIVE: Head Wounds......Page 157 Aphasia: Before and After......Page 159 Finding the Ideal Patient......Page 161 Technologies of Inquiry......Page 168 The Varieties of Aphasia......Page 172 Constructing Pathology......Page 173 Conclusion......Page 178 SIX: Dissonant Voices......Page 182 Freud’s Zur Auffassung der Aphasien......Page 185 Marie’s Travaux et Mémoires......Page 192 Bergson’s Matter and Memory......Page 205 SEVEN: Making Good......Page 215 Heroic Measures......Page 218 Talking Cures......Page 225 Conclusion......Page 233 Conclusion......Page 242 G......Page 250 S......Page 251 Z......Page 252