Medical Science Ruins a Classic Dickens Tale
I've Moved! The Boomer Chronicles has closed after 6 years, but you can keep up with me on my new blog at http://www.rheabecker.com
It turns out Ebenezer Scrooge had an undiagnosed brain disorder, according to a pair of modern-day medical researchers.
The evil-turned-kindhearted central character in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) had a case of Lewy body dementia, which is similar to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
This news takes all the fun out of the story. It’s like when medical sleuths theorized that Abraham Lincoln had Marfan syndrome. The tall, lanky guy was wasn’t tall and lanky from chopping wood; he was suffering from a disorder whose main telltale sign is extreme tallness and lankiness.
The researchers who tracked down the illness, Robert Chance Algar, a Californian neurologist, and Lisa Saunders, a medical writer and physician, say, “All the events described in [A Christmas Carol] fit a person suffering from the early stages of LBD.”
For the full story, click here.
December 26th, 2006 at 11:14 am
Seems there is a syndrome associated with every action! Thanks for visiting my site. And, yes, WAY!
December 26th, 2006 at 11:36 am
This is so interesting. Thankfully, may it be ghosts or ghostly delusions.. the story is still magical.
December 26th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
How can a fictional character have an undoagnosed brain disorder? My tink, little brain tells me that since he was fictional, he suffered from nothing other than what Dickens intended. Humbug to those researchers.
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
December 26th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Thanks for stopping in,
Can’t they leave anything alone! Geeze!
December 26th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
And the ghosts cured him or did the whole town have hallucinations, too?
December 26th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Ghosts in every closet seems to be at the heart of a good mystery….yet, sometimes, it is good to keep them there. Thanks for visiting my blog.
December 26th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
So what made him turn nice at the end?
December 26th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
How can a fictional character have a disease? Do the doctors think that Charles Dickens selected an actual diseased person as the model for his character? Had they even invented this disease back then? Somebody invents a new disease all the time, parbly pharmaceutical companies (meaning doctors). The latest invention is RLS (restless leg syndrome). Maybe the guy who wrote “The Complete Walker” had RLS. They invent diseases so we’ll buy the cure.
I think E. Scrooge had a classic syndrome before his epiphany: TAS (total asshole syndrome). The pharmaceutical guys wouldn’t like the cure, no way they can bottle and sell it.
December 26th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
Leave it to science to silence the chains!
December 26th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
Facts Smacks! I’m sticking with Fantasy on this one!
December 26th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
I suppose most historical figures and characters could be found to have some sort of syndrome. Personally I don’t understand the need to research it all ad nauseum. You are right, it takes the fun out of the message of the story.
Thanks for visiting me last night. Yep, we really have goats!
December 26th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
Don’t these folks have better things to do with their time? -geez.
December 27th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
Jan: Good question.
December 27th, 2006 at 6:41 pm
“So what made him turn nice at the end?”
It’s a miracle!!!
January 3rd, 2007 at 1:31 am
[...] Link – via The Boomer Chronicles [...]