originally published 9/1/1995
Literary critic Alan Jacobs discusses the clinical stories of neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose ability to bring out the dignity and personhood of his “characters” (patients) rivals that of many novelists. Jacobs explains that Sacks’s decision to write about people, not diseases, was influenced by his own experience of major injury. It led him to focus on the experiential element of disease and injury, that is, what it feels like to be sick or injured. As the medical establishment increasingly operates like a machine, Sacks emphasizes human sympathy and a regard for the whole person. His writing helps readers, especially other doctors, to see the complexity of patients’ lives, including even the benefits and riches that often come to a patient through his or her suffering. Some of these clinical stories by Oliver Sacks may be found in his books An Anthropologist on Mars and A Leg to Stand On.
This interview was originally featured on Volume 16 of the Mars Hill Tapes.
11 minutes
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