Oliver Sacks: The P.T. Barnum of the Postmodern World?

Cassuto, Leonard

doi:10.1353/aq.2000.0015

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The depiction of disabled persons was even called ‘a freak show’, and Sacks’ panopticum was compared with the travelling circus of P.T. Barnum (45). Sacks even became a protagonist in a work of fiction himself, being intertextually parodied in Richard Powers’ novel The Echo Maker as ‘cognitive neurologist’ Gerald Weber, who calls himself ‘the Beau Brummel of brain research’ (46).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oliver Sacks and migraine

2016

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Background Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) published a large number of books on a variety of neurological topics. Of these, numerous copies have been sold and they probably serve as the only or main source of information on neurological diseases for many persons without a medical background. His first book was on migraine and in his subsequent books many descriptions of migraine can be found, mainly those of auras. Methods We explored the descriptions of migraine in Sacks' work in order to evaluate the image of migraine offered to the readers. Conclusion Oliver Sacks gave wonderful descriptions of migraine auras, but hardly any of migraine headache. Furthermore, he described rare auras such as 'amusia' and olfactory auras. Overall, this makes his descriptions of migraine not very useful to serve as medical information for laypersons. Oliver Sacks, however, wrote great literature.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oliver Sacks and migraine

2016

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“…11 Other criticism came from Leonard Cassuto, who likened the popularization of disabling neurologic maladies to "freak show" entertainment. 12 In later writings, Sacks acknowledged these concerns, commenting on his challenges at navigating the space between compassionate accounts in the case histories and the glorification of human oddity.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Riffing on the title of Sacks' book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat , 10 the British disability rights activist Tom Shakespeare tartly described Sacks as “a man who mistook his patients for a literary career.” 11 Other criticism came from Leonard Cassuto, who likened the popularization of disabling neurologic maladies to “freak show” entertainment. 12 In later writings, Sacks acknowledged these concerns, commenting on his challenges at navigating the space between compassionate accounts in the case histories and the glorification of human oddity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%