Epilepsy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Epilepsy, including details on symptoms, causes, treatment, drugs, information.

Did Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky suffer from mesial temporal lobe epilepsy?

Baumann CR, Novikov VP, Regard M, Siegel AM

Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, CH-8091 Zürich, Switzerland.

Many scientific authors--among them famous names such as Henri Gastaut or Sigmund Freud--dealt with the question from what kind of epilepsy Fyodor Mikhailovitch Dostoevsky (1821-1881) might had suffered. Because of the tight interplay between Dostoevsky's literary work and his own disease we throw light on the author's epilepsy against the background of his epileptic fictional characters. Moreover, we attempt to classify Dostoevsky's epilepsy on the basis of his bibliography, language, and literary work.

Published 4 July 2005 in Seizure, 14(5): 324-30.
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