RESUMO
The works of Argentinian scholar Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) have captivated physicians. An assiduous reader, he was given, with magnificent irony, "books and the night". Borges suffered from chronic and irreversible blindness, which influenced much of his work and has been the subject of different literary and diagnostic analyses from the ophthalmological point of view. However, the characteristics of his visual impairment have escaped the neurological approach, which is why we reviewed his work looking for data suggesting a concomitant brain injury. On his autobiography, he recounts how, during an episode of septicemia, he suffered hallucinations and loss of speech; in addition, in some poems and essays he describes data that suggest "phantom chromatopsia", a lesion of cortical origin. After that accident, Borges survived with a radical change in literary style. Although a precise diagnosis is impossible, his literary work allows recognizing some elements in favor of concomitant brain involvement.
La obra del erudito argentino Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) ha cautivado a los médicos. Asiduo lector con magnífica ironía, le fueron dados "los libros y la noche". Borges padeció una ceguera crónica e irreversible que impulsó gran parte de su obra y ha sido objeto de distintos análisis literarios y diagnósticos desde el punto de vista oftalmológico. Sin embargo, las características de su ceguera han escapado al abordaje neurológico, por lo cual revisamos su obra en busca de datos que sugieran una lesión cerebral concomitante. En su autobiografía relata cómo durante un episodio de septicemia padeció alucinaciones y pérdida del habla; además, en algunos poemas y ensayos describe datos que sugieren "cromatopsia fantasma", lesión de origen cortical. Tras dicho accidente, Borges sobrevivió con un cambio radical en su estilo literario. Aunque un diagnóstico preciso es imposible, su obra literaria nos permite reconocer algunos elementos que sugieren involucramiento cerebral concomitante.
Assuntos
Cegueira/história , Medicina na Literatura/história , Poesia como Assunto/história , Argentina , Autobiografias como Assunto , Cegueira/etiologia , Traumatismos Cranianos Penetrantes/complicações , Traumatismos Cranianos Penetrantes/história , História do Século XX , Bibliotecas/históriaRESUMO
The works of Argentinian scholar Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) have captivated physicians. An assiduous reader, he was given, with magnificent irony, "books and the night". Borges suffered from chronic and irreversible blindness, which influenced much of his work and has been the subject of different literary and diagnostic analyses from the ophthalmological point of view. However, the characteristics of his visual impairment have escaped the neurological approach, which is why we reviewed his work looking for data suggesting a concomitant brain injury. On his autobiography, he recounts how, during an episode of septicemia, he suffered hallucinations and loss of speech; in addition, in some poems and essays he describes data that suggest "phantom chromatopsia", a lesion of cortical origin. After that accident, Borges survived with a radical change in literary style. Although a precise diagnosis is impossible, his literary work allows recognizing some elements in favor of concomitant brain involvement.
Assuntos
História do Século XX , Poesia como Assunto/história , Redação/história , Cegueira/história , Pessoas Famosas , Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas/história , Argentina , Autobiografias como Assunto , Cegueira/etiologia , Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas/complicaçõesRESUMO
The works of Argentinian scholar Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) have captivated physicians. An assiduous reader, he was given, with magnificent irony, "books and the night". Borges suffered from chronic and irreversible blindness, which influenced much of his work and has been the subject of different literary and diagnostic analyses from the ophthalmological point of view. However, the characteristics of his visual impairment have escaped the neurological approach, which is why we reviewed his work looking for data suggesting a concomitant brain injury. On his autobiography, he recounts how, during an episode of septicemia, he suffered hallucinations and loss of speech; in addition, in some poems and essays he describes data that suggest "phantom chromatopsia", a lesion of cortical origin. After that accident, Borges survived with a radical change in literary style. Although a precise diagnosis is impossible, his literary work allows recognizing some elements in favor of concomitant brain involvement.
Assuntos
Cegueira/história , Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas/história , Pessoas Famosas , Poesia como Assunto/história , Redação/história , Argentina , Autobiografias como Assunto , Cegueira/etiologia , Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas/complicações , História do Século XXRESUMO
PURPOSE: This article reviews the history of Cuban epidemic optic neuropathy (1991-1993), which caused visual loss, peripheral neuralgias, and other neurologic symptoms in over 50,000 persons, an incidence of almost 0.5% of the entire population. The clinical findings, etiology, and treatment are described. We then relate the Cuban epidemic to the fictional epidemic of contagious blindness depicted by Nobel Laureate José Saramago in his 1995 novel Blindness. This novel describes an unnamed modern city in which all inhabitants, except the ophthalmologist's wife, are affected with a white, not black, blindness. DESIGN: Historical review and literary essay. METHODS: The sources for the Cuban epidemic were an extensive review of the published literature and personal communications with physicians who treated these patients. Both authors have analyzed the novel and the critical literature about Saramago's writings. RESULTS: Though Saramago uses the epidemic of blindness as an allegory to comment on human weakness and immorality, he may also have known of the actual Cuban epidemic. Saramago was a lifelong member of the Communist party, as well as a friend of Fidel Castro and admirer of the Cuban government. We have no proof that Blindness was influenced by the Cuban epidemic, but we find it plausible. CONCLUSION: It is valuable to examine the real and fictional epidemics side by side, not least because Saramago's novel depicts the actions of an ophthalmologist during an epidemic of blindness. Ophthalmologists may be interested in a novel that uses the language of eyes, vision, sight, and blindness extensively.
Assuntos
Cegueira/história , Medicina na Literatura/história , Doenças do Nervo Óptico/epidemiologia , Doenças do Nervo Óptico/história , Cuba/epidemiologia , Surtos de Doenças/história , Epidemias/história , Hispânico ou Latino , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , Humanos , Incidência , Portugal/epidemiologiaAssuntos
Cegueira/história , Leitura , Auxiliares Sensoriais/história , Brasil , França , História do Século XIX , Humanos , Moldávia , Filatelia , Federação RussaRESUMO
In Ancient Egypt, light and fire, which were closely related to the Sun God Ra, were the sources of life and well-being, while the dark meant danger and death. Similar to death, darkness drops on human beings in deep sleep and they enter a space inhabited by shadows. Dreams were believed to reveal an unknown world, to give the sleeper a glimpse into the future. Vision attracts distant objects and their light, on the other hand, can hurt the eyes like a burning flame. Eyes were the most important organ in Egyptian thought, as they allowed perception of the real world. Their importance has been immortalised in the myth of the Eye of Horus that explains the role of either eye. One represents the moonlight, which disperses the darkness of the night, and the other represents the sunshine, which creates life, and both could also represents the power of human intellect. Blindness, in turn, congenital or disease-related, was considered a divine punishment. A man, thus handicapped, would sink in a state of uncertainty and darkness. To protect the eyes from blindness, people used drops and ointments, which were believed to chase away all kinds of insects and demons that threatened with a variety of eye infections. Egyptian eye doctors or physicians, carried a special kit that contained green chrysocolla and a black kohl makeup, highly appreciated as prophylaxis because they personified Osiris' humours or body fluids. These products were offered to Gods to restore the brightness of divine glance and incite sun and moon to spread their beneficial light.
Assuntos
Cegueira/história , Oftalmologia/história , Antigo Egito , História Antiga , Humanos , Luz , Visão OcularRESUMO
This article deals with a little known episode that occurred near the end of the Great War in a military reserve hospital located in the small town of Pasewalk, part of the distant region of Pomerania in northern Poland. The story is centered around the transient visual loss of a 29-year-old Austrian messenger of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. His name: Adolf Hitler.
Assuntos
Cegueira/história , Distúrbios de Guerra/história , Pessoas Famosas , Militares/história , I Guerra Mundial , Cegueira/etiologia , Alemanha , História do Século XX , HumanosRESUMO
This article deals with a little known episode that occurred near the end of the Great War in a military reserve hospital located in the small town of Pasewalk, part of the distant region of Pomerania in northern Poland. The story is centered around the transient visual loss of a 29-year-old Austrian messenger of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. His name: Adolf Hitler.
Este artigo trata de um episódio mal conhecido, ocorrido próximo ao final da Primeira Grande Guerra, em um hospital militar da reserva, situado na pequena cidade de Pasewalk, na distante região da Pomerania ao norte da Polônia. No centro desta história, a perda visual transitória de um cabo austríaco de 29 anos, mensageiro do 16º Regimento Bávaro de Infantaria. Seu nome: Adolf Hitler.