Overview

This book, written by one of the leaders in the field of the neurosciences, will give an explanation of the symptoms and eventual untimely suicide of one of literatures greatest authors; Virginia Woolf. The sources used are letters and statements from Woolf herself, the literature she wrote and comments, letters and any other documentation that referred to her mental state and her medical status. The author will use current insight into depression, the mental consequences of child abuse and drug interactions/effects to illustrate this case study. The book should appeal to researchers in the neurosciences, psychology and psychiatry as well as to a broader audience, mainly individuals who are interested in the (external and internal) forces that drove Woolf to write her material.

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Reviews

'The book's main virtues are its erudition and humanity. Bennett is an authoritative but amiable writer, and he conveys deep sensitivity towards his subject. He expresses a firm conviction that neuroscience has something important to contribute to our understanding of the lived experience of whole persons, not just to the investigation of biological mechanisms in the abstract.' 'Specialist readers will benefit from the magisterial research reviews, which include remarkable work on brain changes following childhood abuse that confound simple dichotomies of nature and nurture, body and mind, and biology and psychology.' '..Bennett shows how contemporary neuroscience offers a more encompassing account of Woolf's symptoms, recognising the conjoint effects of inherited vulnerability, early sexual abuse, and the contemporary stress of wartime on her suicide, all mediated by brain processes.' Professor Nick Haslam Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne published in the April issue of the Australian Book Review This book is a wonderful vehicle to bring us up to speed with neuropsychiatry & epigenetics advances. The examination, typology & historical development of the concept of soul, mind and consciousness is both very useful and neatly concise. I love the footnotes, like Oliver Sacks' they become delicious essays in themselves. Beautifully done Professor Alan Rosen, University of Sydney Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Deputy Commissioner, Mental Health Commission, NSW. Professor Bennett brings his immense neuroscientific knowledge and conceptual sophistication to bear upon the mental illness of one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. His investigations of the psychiatric history of Virginia Woolf are based on extensive research into her medical record, familiarity with the state of medicine and treatment of the mentally ill in the first decades of the last century, and mastery of the latest findings of neuropsychiatry. This book will fascinate both students of psychiatry and lovers of the writings of Virginia Woolf P.M.S. Hacker St John's College Oxford

Maxwell Bennett's Virginia Woolf and Neuropsychiatry is in some ways the least typical work on Woolf published in 2013, making a fitting departure point for this survey of a productively eclectic year in Woolf studies. ... it is worth considering, particularly by anyone with a strong biographical interest in Woolf. (Year's Work in English Studies, Vol. 94 (1), 2015) The subject of this book's investigation is Virginia Woolf. ... The book arranges ten ... disparate essays into three parts. ... Bennett is an authoritative but amiable writer, and he conveys deep sensitivity towards his subject. ... Bennett's book can be read with profit by anyone with an interest in psychology, psychiatry, or neuroscience, and also by enthusiasts of Virginia Woolf ... . (Nick Haslam, Australian Book Review, April, 2013)

This book is a wonderful vehicle to bring us up to speed with neuropsychiatry & epigenetics advances. The examination, typology & historical development of the concept of soul, mind and consciousness is both very useful and neatly concise. I love the footnotes, like Oliver Sacks' they become delicious essays in themselves. Beautifully done Professor Alan Rosen, University of Sydney Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Deputy Commissioner, Mental Health Commission, NSW. Professor Bennett brings his immense neuroscientific knowledge and conceptual sophistication to bear upon the mental illness of one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. His investigations of the psychiatric history of Virginia Woolf are based on extensive research into her medical record, familiarity with the state of medicine and treatment of the mentally ill in the first decades of the last century, and mastery of the latest findings of neuropsychiatry. This book will fascinate both students of psychiatry and lovers of the writings of Virginia Woolf P.M.S. Hacker St John's College Oxford

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