Hypochondria
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"Everyone must read this book." – Lucia Osborne-Crowley
"Extraordinary and utterly compelling." – Adam Phillips
"An almost impossible balancing act." – Merve Emre
“Part philosophical treatise, part memoir, part history, Rees’s genre-bending meditation on hypochondria references everyone from Freud to Kafka to Seinfeld in a provocative search to find out why, exactly, we believe we’re sick.” – The New York Times
A free-wheeling philosophical essay, Hypochondria combines incisive contemporary cultural critique, colourful literary history, and the author’s own experience of chronic health anxiety to ask what we might learn from the hypochondriac’s discomforting experience of their body. Hypochondria is expansive in its range of references, from the writings of Franz Kafka to original yet accessible readings of theorists like Lauren Berlant. Whether he is discussing Seinfeld, John Donne, or his own past, Rees reveals himself to be a wry and perceptive critic, exploring the causes – and the costs – of our desire for certainty.
With wit and erudition, Hypochondria demonstrates both the rewards and the perils of reading (too) closely the common but typically overlooked aspects of our everyday lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rees debuts with a meandering, contemplative history of hypochondria in literature and medicine. In his early 20s, Rees became convinced that he was seriously ill, first with a brain tumor (due to debilitating headaches) and then with lymphoma (after an abnormal lung scan), despite doctors' reassurance that he was fine. Into this personal narrative Rees weaves a critical investigation of what it means to believe oneself to be well or unwell, centering his inquiry on Kafka, a self-proclaimed hypochondriac for whom "it was of the utmost importance to pay attention to every aspect of one's existence, no matter how small," to the point that he refused Aspirin for headaches so as not to miss any symptoms; and on Freud, who insisted on maintaining the older view of hypochondria as a "physiological ailment," even as other psychiatrists began viewing the condition as purely psychological. The material is often stimulating, as Rees raises intriguing questions about links between hypochondria and undiagnosed autoimmune disorders, and ruminates on hypochondria as an extreme form of existential self-reflection. Though Rees is a companionable guide, highlighting the mordant wit that often accompanies hypochondriac thinking, by the book's second half he begins spinning his wheels in search of conclusions. Still, this leaves readers with plenty to chew on.
