Creativity and Illness: How Suffering Affects Literature, Art, and Music

Author:   Philip Sandblom ,  Anders Palm (Professor emeritus, Comparative Literature)
Publisher:   Lund University Press,Sweden
ISBN:  

9789198740523


Pages:   248
Publication Date:   14 October 2025
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Creativity and Illness: How Suffering Affects Literature, Art, and Music


Overview

A classic in the field of Medical Humanities, the late Philip Sandblom's study of art and ill health first appeared in English in 1982. This is a new, extended version, based on the definitive Swedish edition of 2022. In riveting analyses of the interplay between illness and art, music, and literature, Creativity and illness shows how various diseases and disabilities have affected the works of famous artists, composers, and authors. Among the disorders examined by a renowned surgeon with a passion for art are drug addiction, dementia, visual impairment, and tuberculosis. Many famous names crowd the pages of this book, meeting us in fresh contexts which it took a medical expert to identify. Despite its engagement with horrendous diseases, this book celebrates the strength of the human spirit in adversity and emphasises the joy of creation.

Full Product Details

Author:   Philip Sandblom ,  Anders Palm (Professor emeritus, Comparative Literature)
Publisher:   Lund University Press,Sweden
Imprint:   Lund University Press,Sweden
Dimensions:   Width: 17.00cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.690kg
ISBN:  

9789198740523


ISBN 10:   9198740520
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   14 October 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Publisher’s note Preface Introduction The relationship between illness and creativity The salient characteristics of creative personalities Artificial stimulation of creativity Neuroses and psychosomatic disorders Mental illness Congenital malformations Old age, feebleness, and death Disturbances affecting sight and hearing Severe pain Digression: artists’ views on medicine and physicians Tuberculosis Various physical illnesses Summary Epilogue Sources of illustrations Index -- .

Reviews

'Philip Sandblom has given the ultimate gift to medicine, to literature, and to the creative arts. He shows us how we are jointly engaged in the highest calling possible. Together — and only together — can we physicians, artists, writers, and patients delve to the deepest levels of comprehension of the human conditions of mortality and suffering with the vision bestowed upon us by the arts. In effect, Philip Sandblom has rehumanized the practice of medicine and reconfirmed the necessity of beauty in our lives.' Rita Charon, Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine & Professor of Medicine and Chair, Medical Humanities and Ethics, Columbia University -- .


Author Information

The late Philip Sandblom (1903-2001) was a Professor of Surgery and Vice-Chancellor of Lund University from 1957 to 1968.

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