Tormented Hope by Brian Dillon - ISBN: 9780141044057
Paperback
Nine lives haunted by their bodies reveal mind’s power and fragility.

Tormented Hope

Nine Hypochondriac Lives

$43.82

  • Paperback

    304 pages

  • Release Date

    7 July 2010

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Summary

A brilliant exploration, through nine famous lives, of the relationship between mind and body.

Brian Dillon looks at nine prominent hypochondriacs—James Boswell, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, Daniel Paul Schreber, Alice James, Marcel Proust, Glenn Gould, and Andy Warhol—and what their lives tell us about the way the mind works with, and against, the body. His findings are stimulating and surprising, and the stories he tells are often moving, sometimes hilario…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780141044057
ISBN-10:0141044055
Author:Brian Dillon
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint:Penguin Books Ltd
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:304
Release Date:7 July 2010
Weight:213g
Dimensions:198mm x 129mm x 18mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

It’s so good that, after reading it, I needed a lie-down. – Hilary Mantel * Guardian Books of the Year *A brilliant series of portraits * Observer *Fascinating … Written with great elegance and shrewd understanding – William Boyd * Guardian Books of the Year *Illuminating, humane and beautiful * Independent *Ingenious and intriguing * Guardian *Brian Dillon is a superbly careful writer. … [This book] will delight, move and horrify any of the millions of us who, like the late Spike Milligan, have at one time or another contemplated having “I told you I was ill” inscribed on our gravestones. – Sam Leith * Daily Mail *A mini-masterpiece – Louise Carpenter * Observer *Excellent * Sunday Times *Strangely delightful … Dillon’s book is constantly intelligent * Scotland on Sunday *You don’t need to be a hypochondriac to enjoy this series of discursive, insightful essays that are full of quirky details and fascinating anecdotes * Mail on Sunday *

About The Author

Brian Dillon

Brian Dillon was born in Dublin in 1969. He writes on the arts, books and culture for a number of publications. His first book, In the Dark Room, won the Irish Book Award for Non-fiction in 2006. He lives in Canterbury.

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