The Symptomatic Doctor (original) (raw)

Exploring the interplay between literature and medical discourse in French realism, this paper argues that the figure of the doctor in literature serves to mediate the anxieties surrounding the representation of the body. Through an analysis of Maupassant's "Une ruse," the text illustrates how the narrative frames medical knowledge as both a source of authority and a symptom of deeper literary anxieties. The doctor’s storytelling within the literary context reveals the complexities of the body's representation, challenging the boundaries between scientific understanding and literary articulation.