{"id":72614,"date":"2014-06-13T17:30:22","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T21:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=72614"},"modified":"2014-06-16T14:29:44","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T18:29:44","slug":"medical-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/13\/medical-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Frances_d'Arblay_('Fanny_Burney')_by_Edward_Francisco_Burney\"<\/a>

A portrait of Frances d\u2019Arblay (\u201cFanny Burney\u201d) by Edward Francisco Burney, ca. 1785.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today marks the birthday of the English novelist and playwright Fanny Burney, born in 1752, whose Evelina<\/em>, Cecilia<\/i>, Camilla<\/i>, and The Wanderer<\/i> were all major sensations in her day. Hers were satirical novels\u2014often now called proto-Austenian\u2014which were highly regarded by contemporary critics as well as readers.<\/p>\n

Burney wrote one of the earliest accounts of a mastectomy\u2014her own\u2014which she was, horrifyingly, awake enough to observe. The operation was performed by \u201c7 men in black, Dr. Larrey, M. Dubois, Dr. Moreau, Dr. Aumont, Dr. Ribe, & a pupil of Dr. Larrey, & another of M. Dubois\u201d\u2014the latter of whom was considered the number-one doctor in France. Warning: the account, taken from a letter to her sister, gets a little gory, so it\u2019s not for the faint of heart. But Burney did survive, until 1840, at least. Of course, we can’t be sure she really had cancer: she had pains in her breast, but in the absence of a biopsy, it\u2019s hard to know.<\/p>\n

\n

I mounted, therefore, unbidden, the Bed stead\u2014& M. Dubois placed me upon the Mattress, & spread a cambric handkerchief upon my face. It was transparent, however, & I saw, through it, that the Bed stead was instantly surrounded by the 7 men & my nurse. I refused to be held; but when, Bright through the cambric, I saw the glitter of polished Steel\u2014I closed my Eyes. I would not trust to convulsive fear the sight of the terrible incision. Yet\u2014 when the dreadful steel was plunged into the breast\u2014cutting through veins\u2014arteries\u2014flesh\u2014nerves\u2014I needed no injunctions not to restrain my cries. I began a scream that lasted unintermittingly during the whole time of the incision\u2014& I almost marvel that it rings not in my Ears still, so excruciating was the agony. When the wound was made, & the instrument was withdrawn, the pain seemed undiminished, for the air that suddenly rushed into those delicate parts felt like a mass of minute but sharp & forked poniards, that were tearing the edges of the wound. I concluded the operation was over\u2014Oh no! presently the terrible cutting was renewed\u2014& worse than ever, to separate the bottom, the foundation of this dreadful gland from the parts to which it adhered\u2014Again all description would be baffled\u2014yet again all was not over,\u2014Dr. Larry rested but his own hand, & \u2014 Oh heaven!\u2014I then felt the knife (rack)ling against the breast bone\u2014scraping it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today marks the birthday of the English novelist and playwright Fanny Burney, born in 1752, whose Evelina, Cecilia, Camilla, and The Wanderer were all major sensations in her day. Hers were satirical novels\u2014often now called proto-Austenian\u2014which were highly regarded by contemporary critics as well as readers. Burney wrote one of the earliest accounts of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[13439,14287,14288,14289,8476,10919],"class_list":["post-72614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-eighteenth-century","tag-fanny-burney","tag-frances-darblay","tag-mastectomy","tag-medicine","tag-surgery"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMedical Literature by Sadie Stein<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 13, 2014 \u2013 Today marks the birthday of the English novelist and playwright Fanny Burney, born in 1752, whose Evelina, Cecilia, Camilla, and The Wanderer were all\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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