The “High Disease”: Clinic and Literature (Russian Literature of the 1st Half of the 19th Century and Medicine)

The article examines cases of psychopathy, which occurred among Russian writers of the 1st half of the 19th century, in particular K.N. Batyushkov and P.Ya. Chaadaev, and the connection of the disease with their literary activity. The material from the history of Russian psychiatry is involved. At the same time, the development of the theme of insanity in the literature of this period, as well as in the early poetry of B.L. Pasternak, is studied in detail. The romantic nature and sources of such development in the works of V.F. Odoevsky, the influence of E.T.A. Hoffman’s creativity are revealed. The romantic personification of the theme of madness is shown in N.A. Polevoy’s novels “The Bliss of Madness”, “Emma” and in N.F. Pavlov’s novella “Masquerade”. The philosophical and ethical interpretation of the theme is noted in the poems of E.A. Boratynsky and F.I. Tyutchev, in the novels of A.I. Herzen “Doctor Krupov”, “Damaged”.