Evolution and Epilepsy in Bleak House
Anna Neill
Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 September 1, 2011 DOI: 10.1353/sel.2011.0034 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that in Dickens's novels, nervous seizures produce clairvoyant episodes that dissolve the self and reveal hidden connections, and that in Bleak House these specters illuminate social relations and institutional forces. |
Abstract
In Charles Dickens's novels, nervous seizures trigger dreamy, clairvoyant episodes in which normally imperceptible connections and relations among events and characters come to light. During such episodes, which the neurologist John Hughlings Jackson would describe as "voluminous" states of consciousness, the boundaries of the self dissolve, and the mind becomes attuned to a range of possible identities or phantom selves. The specters unleashed in this state of nervous "dissolution" haunt Bleak House even as they illuminate relations among members of vastly different social worlds and the great institutional forces that affect the most curious events of the mind.