A Journey Round My Skull (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

Frigyes Karinthy (Author), Vernon Duckworth Barker (Translator), Oliver Sacks (Introduction)

Book Description

Release date: March 11, 2008 | Series: New York Review Books Classics

The distinguished Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy was sitting in a Budapest café, wondering whether to write a long-planned monograph on modern man or a new play, when he was disturbed by the roaring—so loud as to drown out all other noises—of a passing train. Soon it was gone, only to be succeeded by another. And another. Strange, Karinthy thought, it had been years since Budapest had streetcars. Only then did he realize he was suffering from an auditory hallucination of extraordinary intensity.

What in fact Karinthy was suffering from was a brain tumor, not cancerous but hardly benign, though it was only much later—after spells of giddiness, fainting fits, friends remarking that his handwriting had altered, and books going blank before his eyes—that he consulted a doctor and embarked on a series of examinations that would lead to brain surgery. Karinthy’s description of his descent into illness and his observations of his symptoms, thoughts, and feelings, as well as of his friends’ and doctors’ varied responses to his predicament, are exact and engrossing and entirely free of self-pity. A Journey Round My Skull is not only an extraordinary piece of medical testimony, but a powerful work of literature—one that dances brilliantly on the edge of extinction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Karinthy’s book is, to my mind, a masterpiece. We are inundated now with medical memoirs, both biographical and autobiographical–the entire genre has exploded in the last twenty years. Yet even though the technology may have changed, the human experience has not, and Journey Around My Skull, the first autobiographical description of a journey inside the brain, remains one of the very best.” --Oliver Sacks (from the Introduction)

“The first patient’s-eye-view account of a brain operation in medical history…remarkable.” –Time

“The London Evening Standard called A Journey Round My Skull…an extraordinary book. The New Statesman and Nation called it a very remarkable book. The Spectator an unusual and extremely interesting book. The Glasgow Herald a terrible and marvelous book. The British Medical Journal a book of the highest value. This chorus of praise is not too strong…A Journey Round My Skull is a document that few other men would have written and that no reader will easily forget.” –The New York Times

“Here is a book of surpassing interest and power…Written with utmost clarity and candor, Karinthy’s account of his illness and operation is a compelling, unique achievement which needs no artifice…the patient’s narrative holds the reader in a spell.” –Los Angeles Times

“Pirandello could not have written it better…a triumph of writing, a very remarkable book.” –The New Statesman

“It would be impossible to read anything so moving, so frightening or so exciting…a terrible and marvelous book. It will be treasured by the courageous reader for its beauty, its poetry and its revelation of an experience that happily comes to few men.” –John O’London’s Weekly

“A remarkable subject, and the book is as remarkable as its subject. Not a touch of morbidity adheres to the story…indeed an extraordinary book.” –The Evening Standard

“This unusual and extremely interesting book…as well as being a brilliantly imaginative record of an illness, the book is also a very revealing autobiography.”–The Spectator

"Karinthy was a magnificent parodist and a ruthless but never pompous social critic. His poetry was a mixture of carefully polished, effectively classicist and broadly-rolling, Whitmanesque verse." –Adam Makkai

“Karinthy gives a minute description of his ‘skull,’ a description that covers both the physical and psychological…but he also incorporates his readings (Thomas Mann’s Joseph and his Brethern, Scott’s account of his journeys to the South Pole, Jules Verne’s Michel Strogoff) and a variety of philosophical musings…What a pleasure to sit down with a witty, urbane, eminently well educated human being, to bask in his presence as he recounts to you something of vital importance to him. We could do with a few more Karinthys nowadays.” –The Hungarian Quarterly

A “brilliant humorist and prose-writer.” –The Independent [UK]

“[Karinthy] possesses the sharp and biting satire of Voltaire; the provocative doubt of Shaw; the poetic fantasy of Maeterlinck. Karinthy is a universal literary genius: playwright, humorist, poet, novelist, critic, essayist, literary caricaturist, etc…He has that rare ability of our own Charlie Chaplin, in that whatever he attempts to do, he can make us feel that he is a genius.” –Los Angeles Times

“This book is both a human document and a piece of authentic literature, not devoid of humor.” –The New York Times

About the Author

Frigyes Karinthy (1887—1938) was a Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist, and translator. He was the first proponent of the six degrees of separation concept in his 1929 short story, L‡ncszemek (Chains). Karinthy is known in English for his novellas Voyage to Faremido and Capillaria. Father of Ferenc Karinthy, he remains one Hungary’s most popular writers.

Oliver Sacks practices neurology in New York City. His books include Awakenings, Uncle Tungsten, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590172582
• ISBN-13: 978-1590172582
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Cancer > Brain Cancer

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and insightful August 11, 2008

By Lisa C. Hamilton

Format:Paperback

I purchased this book because, upon browsing it in the bookstore, it mirrored much of my experience with seizures and brain surgery. His descriptions and the unreal experience of having a brain disease hit the bulls eye. The floating, stream of conciousness-like storytelling brings home the feelings involved with such a curious experience. I'm enjoying it immensely.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Dreamlike Narration of Illness July 2, 2008

By Gary Schroeder

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A Journey Round My Skull appears (based on reviews and cover blurbs) to be a classic of the 'sick patient' genre. I'm not exactly sure why. I found it to be a little challenging to stick with to the end. Part of the problem is the stilted translation from Karinthy's native language. It never flows well and reads very much like a translation inasmuch as the english phrases seem awkward, rough and not-quite-right. I almost never forgot that I was in fact reading a translation -- surely a sign of a less than stellar job.

That aside, Karinthy's style never really caught on with me. What I expected to be a straight-up tale of what happens to a patient with a brain tumor saddled with diagnosis and treatment using only mid-20th century technology, turned out to be a more dreamlike, stream of consciousness experience that was often a little confusing. Also surprising was Karinthy's baffling attitude at being stricken with a brain tumor. Never did he admit to self-pity, sadness or fear for the future. Instead he tells his story from a detached, "what will be will be" perspective. It's rather hard for me to imagine facing blindness and possible death with such a cavalier attitude. I question if he really did either.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing description of the author's brain surgery without anaesthesia February 25, 2009

By Darryl R. Morris

Format:Paperback

Frigyes Karinthy (1887-1938) was an influential Hungarian novelist, playwright, poet and journalist. A Journey Round My Skull is a literary account of the development and successful removal of his brain tumor, which occurred near the end of his life. His symptoms begin insidiously, with auditory hallucinations, followed by headaches and vomiting of increasing severity, and loss of visual acuity. Despite these symptoms, which are suggestive of a brain tumor or another process that would cause increased intracranial pressure, the doctors in Budapest ignore his symptoms and fail to reach an accurate diagnosis. He eventually travels to Vienna, where clinicians there eventually reach the correct diagnosis. He undergoes surgery in Stockholm by a brilliant young neurosurgeon who prefers to operate on Europeans while they are awake, to minimize postoperative morbidity. Karinthy's description of the surgery is unforgettable, as he is conscious for all but the last portion of the procedure.

I was in awe of the clinicians who were able to accurately diagnose his tumor without the benefit of advanced radiographic tools such as CT or MRI scans, but I was also horrified by the time it took to reach an accurate diagnosis and to remove the tumor, and the ineptitude and brusqueness of most of the clinicians Karinthy encountered - including his own wife, who was a renowned psychiatrist. Also of interest is the varied reactions of his friends and colleagues to his illness, especially when the seriousness of his condition became apparent.

There are a number of digressions throughout the book, which were a bit distracting and seemed to contribute little, if anything, to this amazing story. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable read.