A History of Delusions: The Glass King, a Substitute Husband and a Walking Corpse

by Victoria Shepherd

Overview

The extraordinary ways the brain can misfire

A curious history of the strange, wonderful and sometimes terrifying worlds created by our minds.

‘An utterly engrossing book.' ZOE WILLIAMS

For centuries we’ve dismissed delusions as something for doctors to sort out behind locked doors. But delusions are more than just bizarre quirks – they hold the key to collective anxieties and traumas.

In this groundbreaking history, Victoria Shepherd uncovers stories of delusions from medieval times to the present day and implores us to identify reason in apparent madness.

• Discover how the King of France – thinking he was made of glass – was terrified he might shatter... and he wasn’t alone...
• Uncover the peculiar case of the dozens of Victorian women who tried to convince their physicians that they were, in fact, dead.
• And learn how after the Emperor met his end at the Battle of Waterloo, an epidemic of 'Napoleons' piled into France’s asylums.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861540914
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	07/19/2022
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Victoria Shepherd conceived and produced the ten-part series A History of Delusions for BBC Radio 4. She has produced scores of documentaries and major strands for BBC Radio 4. She holds an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction 1

i 'Madame M' and 'The Illusion of Doubles' 9

ii A Paranoid Conspiracy: James Tilly Matthews and the 'Air Loom Gang' 55

iii The Melancholic Delusions of Robert Burton 101

iv Francis Spira and the 'Delusion of Despair' 137

v The Glass Delusion of King Charles VI of France 159

vi Margaret Nicholson, Descended from Boudicca and Rightful Queen of England 187

vii The Clockmaker Who Lost His Head 213

viii Napoleon and 'Delusions of Grandeur' 229

ix 'Madame X', Professor Cotard and 'Walking Corpse Syndrome' 251

x 'Léa-Anna B' and the King: Grand Passions and 'Erotomania' 275

Conclusion 301

Acknowledgements 306

Select Bibliography 309

Notes 313

Index 329

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/04/2022

In this bewitching debut, Shepherd adapts her BBC Radio 4 series of the same name, providing a delightfully strange account of delusions. Through a series of case studies spanning the Middle Ages to the present day, Shepherd contends that “cases of delusion often have the quality of a parable or fairy tale.... They are peculiar, cryptic, their meanings encoded.” She discusses the French “Madame M,” who in 1918 requested a divorce because she thought her husband had been replaced by imposters, and Shepherd points to the stigma around divorce as a possible subliminal motive. An exquisite chapter tells the story of the 17th-century psychological theorist Robert Burton, who so trusted a horoscope he had personally calculated that he allegedly committed suicide to accord with its prophecy of his death. Other cases include King Charles VI of France, who believed that his body had been transformed into glass, and a French Revolution–era clockmaker who claimed his head had been severed by a guillotine. Reminiscent of Oliver Sachs, Shepherd opts for empathy over prurience, highlighting the humanity of her subjects and lucidly drawing out the dream logic by which their delusions operate. This is a wondrous reminder of the intricacy and paradox of the human mind. (July)

Publishers Weekly

'A humane and thoughtful account.'

Washington Post

‘Meticulously researched... this is a good time to take delusions seriously.’

Daily Express

‘A varied and thought-provoking journey.’

The Times

‘Confidently and pacily, and with an intimate tone driven by the book’s incarnation as a BBC Radio 4 series, Shepherd unpacks each case story to identify the reasons behind the purported loss of reason... Through these histories Shepherd aims to build our own connection with, and understanding of, people whose delusions may on first encounter seem bizarre: through the stories they tell themselves, they perhaps tell us – at a time that often seems out of joint, even deranged – about the stories we tell ourselves.’

Dr Philip Sidney

‘A compelling series of individual case studies... fascinating... Shepherd is an excellent guide, offering concise accounts of specific diagnoses and a particularly absorbing account of the work of French asylum doctor Philippe Pinel... we close the book convinced of her central message: delusions are not signs of madness, but “important and compelling” phenomena.’

Fortean Times

‘This absorbing study... Shepherd goes beyond formal, detached accounts by physicians, trying instead to get a glimpse of whole human beings whose lives unravelled through trauma into delusional thinking... a humane, attentive exploration of locked-in worlds inhabited by people whose mental certainties could be both comforting and terrifying.’

BBC History Magazine

‘Riveting case histories grounded in context and narrated with novelistic verve and impressive authority.’

Julie Kavanagh

‘A timely reminder that nothing is new, just how we deal with it. Shepherd's evocative descriptions take you from seventeenth-century Oxford to twentieth-century Paris with detail as rich as the stories she uncovers. Thought-provoking as well as deeply informative.’

Annie Gray

‘Fascinating and compassionate.’

Horatio Clare

‘Each chapter opens with a compelling portrait of someone whose life was consumed, even destroyed, by a false idea... Poignant... By looking back on historical examples of the phenomenon, Shepherd shows both the mistakes and triumphs of the past, which should inform more compassionate, dignified treatment of the mentally ill in the future. From fourteenth-century England to twentieth-century France, A History of Delusions examines the thin, blurry line between sanity and insanity.’

Foreword Reviews

‘An utterly engrossing book. It reaches through layers of mania and the distance of centuries to connect you completely to its subjects, such that you miss them when they're gone.’

Zoe Williams