Product Description
The Body in the Library is a unique tour of the history of medicine and its practitioners. It provides a nuanced and realistic picture of how medicine and society have abetted and thwarted each other ever since the lawyers behind the French Revolution banished the clergy and replaced them with doctors, priests of the body.

Ranging from Charles Dickens to Oliver Sacks, Anton Chekhov to Raymond Queneau, Fanny Burney to Virginia Woolf, Miguel Torga to Guido Ceronetti, The Body in the Library is an anthology of poems, stories, journal entries, Socratic dialogue, table-talk, clinical vignettes, aphorisms, and excerpts written by doctor-writers themselves.

Engaging and provocative, philosophical and instructive, intermittently funny and sometimes appalling, this anthology sets out to stimulate and entertain. With an acerbic introduction and witty contextual preface to each account, it will educate both patients and doctors curious to know more about the historical dimensions of medical practice.

Armed with a first-hand experience of liberal medicine and knowledge of several languages, Iain Bamforth has scoured the literatures of Europe to provide a well-rounded and cross-cultural sense of what it means to be a doctor entering the twenty-first century. A book for every bedside. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Justice Without Violence
The Just is a play based upon real events.To convey his concept of moral revolutionaries, Camus fictionalized the 1905 Moscow assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovitch, the uncle of Czar Nicholas II.

The assassin, in real life and in the play, is a man named Kaliayev.Camus' characterization is of a man dedicated to political change, but not through blind or senseless violence.Camus never endorsed or accepted the need for violence against "civilians" during a revolution, so he endows his characters with the same value.The small cell to which Kaliayev belongs in the play in dedicated to "justice* for the Russian people.They see their actions as self-sacrifice.

At the start of the play, Kaliayev is selected to throw the bomb that will assassinate the Grand Duke.His first attempt ends in what might be considered failure--Kaliayev does not throw the bomb.The Duke was with his niece and nephew.Kaliayev cannot harm innocent children, and the group agrees with his decision. Camus' account is, according to most, historically accurate; the real Kaliayev was not interested in harming those whom he considered to be innocent.

Breaking with history, Camus introduces a fictional character to illustrate the wrongs of the Communist Party.The character of Stepan Federov is a victim of the Czarist state.Due to his experiences under the Czar's legal system, he has become an extremist.Camus illustrates that some revolutionaries are acting upon emotion, not concern for their fellow citizens.Stepan tells the other terrorists that he would have killed children "if the organization commanded it."

Stepan is the archetype of a Stalinist--the type of supporter of the Soviet Union that prevented Camus from supporting the Communist Party.Camus was a socialist and supported the idea of change, but not the idea that any means can be justified by the anticipated ends.What happens when a revolution fails?The innocent die for nothing, according to Camus.

In the play, Kaliayev succeeds and assassinates the Grand Duke on the third try.The Grand Duchess Ella, sister of the Empress Alexandra, visits Kaliayev in prison; she is a kind and compassionate person.Again, Camus' account is based upon history.The Duchess even considers sparing the assassin's life.Kaliayev tells her that he wants to die--to avoid being a "murderer."At this moment in the play, Kaliayev adheres to basic existential ethics...he accepts the consequences of his actions.

Camus even ends the play with another insult to communists.Dora, a woman, is selected for the next bombing.Historically, women were not allowed to be active in most revolutionary movements, not even the French Resistance.Camus always wondered why "the people" never included women, although it is no wonder, considering how difficult were his own relationships with the women in his life.

The Just constitutes the third and final of Camus' works known as The Revolts; the first was the novel, Le Peste, or The Plague and the third, the essay, L'Homme Révolté, or The Rebel.

Dramatic Philosophy at it's very best!
I first read, The Just, during a student exchange program in Australia and was immediately captured by Camus' captivating style. The plot is so simple and yet raises some extremely serious questions. A small rebel groop inpre-revolutionary Russia plan to assasin a member of the aristocracy, yetmust face that the justification of their deed is by no means a simple one.In a world deprived of unambiguous moral standards, the rebels find that nojudgement about anything in the real world can be absolutely justified.Camus is sublime in his quest to rebel and install moral values in anotherwise absurd universe, and his literary skills give his brand ofexistencial philosophy the atmosphere, which not only conveys it toliterally everyone, but also gives it an atmosphere quite unique forphilosophical fiction. Camus truly belongs among such greats asDostoyevski, Kafka and Sartre.

you aren't right or wrong, you have an opinion
A leader implements policies that you believe to be deadly : is there a justification to kill him to prevent disaster? Can anyone justify imposing his views on others? Can society be built if no one does so ? A great story, suspense, love, tragedy to cover a fundamental moral and social issue. The best of Camus, Shakespearian in its multiple layers, from entertainment to fundamental reflection. ... Read more