Shakespeare's Tremor and Orwell's Cough: Diagnosing the Medical Groans and Last Gasps of Ten Great Writers

“The stories of the wounded storytellers unfold smoothly on the page, as mesmerizing as any they themselves might have told.” —The New York Times

The Bard meets House, M.D. in this fascinating untold story of the impact of disease on the lives and works of some the finest writers in the English language. John Ross cheerfully debunks old biographical myths and suggests fresh diagnoses for these writers' real-life medical mysteries.

Were Shakespeare's shaky handwriting, his obsession with venereal disease, and his premature retirement connected? Did Jonathan Swift's preoccupation with sex and filth result from a neurological condition that might also explain his late-life surge in creativity? Was Jack London a suicide, or was his death the product of a series of self-induced medical misadventures? Why did W. B. Yeats's doctors dose him with toxic amounts of arsenic? Did writing Nineteen Eighty-Four actually kill George Orwell?

With a healthy dose of gross descriptions—from a time when leeches were used for bleeding and cupping was a common method of cure, a time before vaccinations, sterilized scalpels, or real drug regimens—and a deep love for the literary output of these ten greats, Ross is the doctor these writers should have had in their time of need.

“Engrossing . . . witty and deeply humane.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Into a satisfying series of medical mysteries [Ross] injects notes of wry humor and obvious affection.” —The Boston Globe

“A rollicking good story.” —The Washington Post

“A fascinating, surprising, and at times hilarious compilation.” —New Scientist

© 2025 St. Martin's Press (E-bog): 9781250012074

Release date

E-bog: 16. april 2025