Alchemy of pain: Studies on medicine and literature Alchemy of pain undertakes an exhaustive academic investigation to explore the relations between medicine and literature and the usefulness of the literary texts used in the training of health professionals. It is based on the reflections of some of the most important writers of Western literature regarding the three great themes that the book is divided into: “illness, death and medicine”, «the unconscious and madness” and the “the life sciences under the gaze of literature”. The studies that make up the book are the result of more than thirty years’ work by the author in this ambit of research and university teaching.
Alquimia del dolor pretende explorar las relaciones entre medicina y literatura tanto en la perspectiva de la más exigente investigación académica como desde el punto de vista de la utilidad de los textos literarios en la formación de los profesionales de la salud. Su tema lo constituyen las reflexiones de algunos de los más importantes creadores de la literatura occidental sobre los tres grandes asuntos que estructuran la obra: «la enfermedad, la muerte y la medicina», «el inconsciente y la locura» y «las ciencias de la vida en el espejo de la literatura». Los estudios que componen el libro son el resultado del trabajo de su autor durante más de treinta años en este ámbito de investigación y docencia universitaria. Alchemy of pain: Studies on medicine and literature Alchemy of pain undertakes an exhaustive academic investigation to explore the relations between medicine and literature and the usefulness of the literary texts used in the training of health professionals. It is based on the reflections of some of the most important writers of Western literature regarding the three great themes that the book is divided into: “illness, death and medicine”, «the unconscious and madness” and the “the life sciences under the gaze of literature”. The studies that make up the book are the result of more than thirty years’ work by the author in this ambit of research and university teaching.