Fractions of Men

Engendering Amputation in Victorian Culture

Bibliographic Data

ID2108125
AuthorsErin O''Connor, Erin E O’connor (0000-0002-9483-1117, California University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author), Erin O'Connor
Year1997
Volume39
Issue4
Pages742-777
Publication date1997-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417500020892
OpenAlexW1997603793
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited27

In 1866, theAtlantic Monthlypublished a fictional case study of an army surgeon who had lost all of his limbs during the Civil War. Written anonymously by American neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell, 'The Case of George Dedlow' describes not only the series of wounds and infections which led to the amputation of all four of the soldier's arms and legs but also the after-effects of amputation. Reduced to what he terms 'a useless torso, more like some strange larval creature than anything of human shape,' Dedlow finds that in disarticulating his body, amputation articulates anatomical norms. His observation of his own uniquely altered state qualifies him to speak in universal terms about the relationship between sentience and selfhood: 'I have dictated these pages,' he says, 'not to shock my readers, but to possess them with facts in regard to the relation of the mind to the body' (1866:5). As such, the story explores the meaning of embodiment, finding in a fragmented anatomy the opportunity to piece together a more complete understanding of how the body functions-physically and metaphysically-as a whole

Amputation · Art · Cripple · Epistemology · Literature · Meaning (existential · Relation (database · Sentience · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Medicine · Philosophy · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Surgery

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