Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture [Hardcover]

Elaine Showalter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0231104588 | ISBN-13: 978-0231104586 | Edition: 1

Filled with fascinating new perspectives on a culture saturated with syndromes of every sort, "Hystories" skillfully surveys the condition of hysteria--its causes, cures, famous patients, and doctors--in the 20th century to show that hysterias are always with us, a kind of collective coping mechanism for changing times.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hysteria is tough to define, but Elaine Showalter knows it when she sees it. She argues that a host of phenomena, both medical and fantastical--alien abductions, recovered memories, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple personalities--arise from a tripartite collaboration between physicians and mental-health professionals, unhappy patients, and a voracious, gullible media. Stories that should be metaphorical ("I feel that I've been taken advantage of in some way.") become real: "I have a recovered memory of ritual satanic abuse." She makes her case brilliantly, explaining the history, causes, and reactions, but offers no pat solution. "The hysterical syndromes of the 1990s clearly speak to the hidden needs and fears of a culture," she writes. When these go away, new ones will surely crop up to reflect the anxieties of a different era.

From Library Journal

The ends of centuries have historically given rise to increased incidents of hysterical epidemics. Literary critic and medical historian Showalter has written a challenging and insightful history of hysteria that brings us up to the Nineties. After defining hysteria, she examines the subject from three perspectives: historically, including the work of Charcot and Freud; culturally, through literature, theater, and film; and, finally, in what is likely to be the book's most controversial area, in terms of epidemics. In this last section, the author hypothesizes that many of today's syndromes, including chronic fatigue, Gulf War, recovered memory, and multiple personality, along with increased reports of satanic ritual abuse and alien abduction, should be correctly categorized as hysterias. Showalter's main point, however, is not the denial of these phenomena but rather "how much power emotions have over the body." A thought-provoking work for informed readers.?Kathleen L. Atwood, Pomfret Sch. Lib., Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr; 1 edition (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231104588
• ISBN-13: 978-0231104586
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,559,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Arguments not well defended, October 23, 2011

By 

T. Dreiling (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hystories (Paperback)

Although I agree with the conclusions of the book her arguments were not stated is a strong way. Many were just a rehash of some of the most outlandish cases, cases referred to as 'high strangeness" She does show how the media plays a big part into flaming the fires with sensational broadcasting. As it turns out not one shred of evidance has ever been verified from any of Rivera's sensational satanic cult specials, yet thousands of people entered therapy for things that never happened. She also talks about male hysteria which is seldom touched upon, So, some good points if no a terrific book.

19 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Wandering Focus, June 30, 2000

By 

Courtney L. Lewis "Sassy Librarian" (Kingston, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hystories (Paperback)

I really had high expectations for this book - the author worked for the Wellcome Institute of the study of the History of Medicine affiliated with Cambridge University - and I felt a historical look at how women's experience of illness (since men are rarities in the hysterical world) ties into modern conceptions of chronic illness would be particularly insightful. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the level of scholarship in this volume. Her earlier chapters centering on the development of the clinical concept of "hysteria" through the 19th and early 20th century are her strongest and best researched and the insights she makes regarding connections between influential thinkers are excellent.

Showalter ties the psychological basis of vaguely explained or ephemeral illness to more modern diseases like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with its numerous psychological and physical symptoms and pinpoints the difficulty of many chronic illness sufferers. Namely that we "live in a culture that still looks down on psychogenic illness, that does not recognize or respect its reality. The self-esteem of the patient depends on having the physiological nature of the illness accepted. The culture forces people to deny the psychological, circumstantial, or emotional sources of their symptoms and to insist that they must be biological and beyond their control in order for them to view themselves as legitimately ill..." While this insight is excellent and, I believe, very true, what the author misses out on is the profound personal nature of the experience of chronic illness with its various ramifications.

Her final conclusion - that feminism and the feminist interpretation of the "hysteria" phenomenon has raised women's expectations of themselves without the inherent power to fulfill those expectations and that the way we should deal with this outcome is simply to study the various aspects of hysteria further - falls flat and does not seem to be well-grounded in the previous context of the book. Unless you are really interested in 19th century medical/women relationships (the one strong point of the book), I think you can miss this one.

17 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hystories: Ignorant of scientific fact, April 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture (Hardcover)

Showalter claims that theories legitimizing chronic fatiguesyndrome as an actual illness are "on the other side ofscience" and implies that a handful of questionable experts have legitimized the illness. While her findings serve to support her theory, her investigation misses or overlooks scientific research from peer-reviewed medical journals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. In reality, the CDC includes CFS on a list of "Priority 1 New and Reemerging Infectious Diseases" along with hepatitis C, malaria, and tuberculosis.

^M Showalter fails to acknowledge a wide range of peer-reviewed scientific research documenting immunological dysfunction, deficits in cognitive function, and neuroendocrine system abnormalities in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

^M ^M Had Showalter's book been written at the turn of the century, she would have included multiple sclerosis (once known as "faker's disease") among her list of "hysterias."

^M Meanwhile, today, over half a million American adults and children are suffering from an illness which Showalter dismisses as a "psychic problem" and "coping mechanism." The former Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Philip R. Lee, wrote a public letter last fall describing CFS as a "scientifically recognized disease syndrome. . . not, as some have characterized it, some sort of psychological problem." Chronic fatigue syndrome is a complex illness characterized by incapacitating fatigue, neurological problems, and a constellation of symptoms that can resemble other disorders such as mononucleosis, multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, and autoimmune diseases such as lupus.

^M ^M Chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), is already poorly understood by the American public. Showalter plays on popular misconceptions, propagating misinformation while watching her stardom (and her book's sales) soar.