Neurosyphilis and Narrative: The Case of Guy de Maupassant

Journal title RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA
Author/s Stefano Calabrese, Valentina Conti
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/1
Language Italian Pages 25 P. 101-125 File size 804 KB
DOI 10.3280/RSF2026-001006
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Guy de Maupassant’s work – especially his fantastical-natu-ralistic short stories dealing with mental illness – is often used in narrative medicine studies because it contains the taxonomy of illness narratives found in Illness and Narrative (1997) by Lars-Christer Hydén, who – on the basis of formal aspects relating to the relationship between narrator, narration, and illness, identifies at least three ways in which they can interconnect, giving rise to three types of narrative: illness as narrative, narrative about illness and narrative as illness. The article focuses on the neuro-narratological analysis of those works by Maupassant who, suffering from neurosyphilis, are emblematic for narrative medicine, since they present an individual who not only experiences and recounts illness but even uses its narration for ther-apeutic purposes.

Keywords: Narrative Medicine, Neurosyphilis, Guy de Maupassant, Mental Health.

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Stefano Calabrese, Valentina Conti, Neurosifilide e narrazione: il caso di Guy de Maupassant in "RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA" 1/2026, pp 101-125, DOI: 10.3280/RSF2026-001006