Medici Ascoltatori/Narratori: I Casi di Giacinta e Profumo di Capuana

Abstract

In the broad landscape of the scientific literature of the XIX century, Luigi Capuana stands out with two novels in which he introduces two distinct medical characters as a different kind of man: Doctor Follini in Giacinta (1879) and Doctor Mola in Profumo (1890). The purpose of this article is to analyse the role of logos, both as diagnostic, and as therapeutic instrument in the doctors’ hands, when they are faced with female neurosis. Luigi Capuana does not want to portray an ideal doctor, but, rather, a human one. He shows the positive effects of logos used as a therapeutic tool, as a palliative remedy, in the case of Doctor Mola; yet he blames the logos used simply as a diagnostic device in the case of Doctor Follini. Capuana introduces major innovations concerning mental disease as a literary voice, and suggests that doctors can, in fact, alleviate the effects of pain through logos despite the absence of a therapeutic solution

Keywords: Luigi Capuana, Ottocento, medicine in literature, logos, psychology