内容説明
This book puts forward the idea that Shakespeare had professional medical training early in his life and that his training is shown somewhat in his various poems and plays. The author says that Shakespeare "seemed to intentionally include medical identification in the linking of a character or a plot, with a factual medical story, situation or person he knew". The author has extensively investigated Shakespeare's background and family, who were based mainly in the West Country. John Brine suggests that the young, Catholic Shakespeare's early motives in medicine could have included caring for people in their last hours. There is evidence to suggest that the development of Shakespeare's medical and surgical knowledge had a practical beginning, in butchering deer, and compares his own experiments as far less superior, as he worked on frogs and rabbits. Shakespeare's probable early army life would have introduced him to butcher-surgery, as butcher-surgeons were always welcome in a post-medieval army and there are reportedly at least seventeen specialist or trade references in his work related to butchering. John Brine's questioning of Shakespeare's medical background does seem to be answered in Shakespeare's play Othello. The character Iago correctly diagnosed the medical condition, epilepsy; he explains with conviction and evidence that epilepsy, a common neurological condition, is the reason for Othello's collapse in Act 3/2. The author puts his views forward in a realistic and thought-provoking manner, making the reader want to reread Shakespeare's works taking more notice of these medical references. He has successfully produced a well-informed book, with excellent references and obviously thoroughly researched. A fascinating read for any Shakespeare fan.
著者について
John Brine is a senior consultant physician who has practiced in England, Europe and Australia. Born in Perth, he is a graduate of Melbourne University and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London. His first book 'Looking for Milligan' concerned the history of medicine in that outpost of the world - Swan River - two centuries ago. He has an abiding interest and love of all things Shakespearean, a common attribute amongst fellow doctors, wherever they may be.
