Balzac's Louis Lambert : schizophrenia before Kraepelin and Bleuler.

Abstract

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) is well known for his penetrating observations and descriptions of the burgeoning social life and emerging modernity of 19th century France. This chapter focuses on the novel Louis Lambert, first published in 1832. It is argued that its main character provides the first complete and convincing description of schizophrenia - 69 years before Kraepelin fully developed the concept of dementia praecox and 76 years before Bleuler coined the word 'schizophrenia'. We consider the history of the concept of schizophrenia and the intriguing possibility that it is a recent disease. Indeed, if schizophrenia had always existed, it would seem odd that Balzac's novel should be the very first convincing and complete literary account of the disease. This claim is examined by a thorough description of Louis Lambert's symptoms as they appear in the text, and compared to other claims of priority (namely, Shakespeare's King Lear and Gogol's Diary of a Madman). The chapter also provides some background on Balzac's relationship with mysticism, mental illness, and the world of psychiatry. We conclude with remarks regarding influences of Louis Lambert, the case for the priority of the novel as the princeps case of schizophrenia, and its relevance to the recency hypothesis of schizophrenia.