Tryggve Andersen: epileptic hallucinations in the 1890s, fact or fiction?
Epilepsia March 1995 DOI: 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1995.tb01000.x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Tryggve Andersen's detailed literary description of nocturnal seizures with formed visual hallucinations, always of the same face, corresponds to an epileptogenic focus in the right posterotemporal region, and that his writings offer an account of initial epileptic experiences uninfluenced by prior knowledge of epilepsy. |
Abstract
The Norwegian author Tryggve Andersen (1867-1920) had epilepsy, but was not aware of the diagnosis until late in life. In one novel, Towards Night (Mot Kvaeld), published in 1900, he described in detail nocturnal attacks with formed visual hallucinations as the initial event, seeing always the same face. He was familiar with the works of Ernst Hoffmann and probably also with those of Fiodor Dostoyevsky, but deduction of the literary influence leaves a precise description corresponding to an epileptogenic focus in the right posterotemporal region. Knowledge of his work may elucidate the subjective experience of initial epileptic manifestations, uncontaminated by previous knowledge of what can be expected in epilepsy. The descriptions provided by Andersen's writings are compared with more formal contemporary definitions of seizure events.