Representing Epilepsy

At least 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy. This book seeks to understand the epileptic body as a literary or figurative device intelligible beyond a medical framework. The author argues that neurological discourse from the late nineteenth century through to the mid-twentieth century is as much forged by the cultural conditions and representational politics of the times as it is by the science of western medicine. Along the way, she explores narratives of epilepsy depicting ideas of social disorder, tainted bloodlines, sexual deviance, spiritualism and criminality in works as diverse as 'David Copperfield' and 'The X Files'.