Description

Febris Erotica

Lovesickness in the Russian Literary Imagination

Valeria Sobol

  • Published: August 2009
  • Subject Listing: Literary Studies, History of Science
  • Bibliographic information: 320 pp., 1 illus., notes, bibliog., index, 6 x 9 in.
  • Series: Literary Conjugations
  • Contents

The destructive power of obsessive love was a defining subject of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russian literature. In Febris Erotica, Sobol argues that Russian writers were deeply preoccupied with the nature of romantic relationships and were persistent in their use of lovesickness not simply as a traditional theme but as a way to address pressing philosophical, ethical, and ideological concerns through a recognizable literary trope. Sobol examines stereotypes about the damaging effects of romantic love and offers a short history of the topos of lovesickness in Western literature and medicine.

Valeria Sobol is associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of Illinois.

"Febris Erotica is a fine, well-researched, and lucidly written examination of representations of lovesickness in eighteenth- and nineteenth century Russian literature, with a brief excursion into the seventeenth century." - Ilya Vinitsky, University of Pennsylvania

"Deftly weaving together literary, intellectual, cultural, and medical history, Sobol makes a convincing case that the 'lovesickness' topos is an important and exceptionally productive prism for exploring a whole constellation of thorny issues and debates that were played out in fascinating detail in Russian literature and culture from the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth century." - Thomas Newlin, Oberlin College

Read an interview with the author at http://www.rorotoko.com/index.php/article/valeria_sobol_interview_febris_erotica_lovesickness_russian_literary_imagin/
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Note on Translation, Transliteration, and Abbreviations
Introduction: Cases in History

PART I / ANATOMY
1. The Anatomy of Feeling and the Mind-Body Problem in Russian Sentimentalism

PART II / DIAGNOSTICS
2. Diagnosing Love: Tradition
3. "Febris Erotica" in Herzen's Who Is to Blame?
4. An Ordinary Story: Goncharov's Romantic Patients

PART III / THERAPY
5. The "Question of the Soul" in the Age of Positivism
6. What Is to Be Done about a Lovesick Woman? Chernyshevsky's Treatment
7. From Lovesickness to Shamesickness: Tolstoy's Solution

Afterword
Notes
Works Cited x
Index
Reviews