Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental Sciences
In Our Mutual Friend, Dickens brilliantly exploits the medical climax in the recovery of the ‘incurable’ Estelle L’Hardy (1836–37), a paralyzed Swiss girl who self-hypnotized a celestial choir to assuage menacing pain. When the French doctor and pioneer Antoine Despine finally learned of her nightly...
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/12307 |
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| author | Carole Koepke Brown |
| author_facet | Carole Koepke Brown |
| author_sort | Carole Koepke Brown |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In Our Mutual Friend, Dickens brilliantly exploits the medical climax in the recovery of the ‘incurable’ Estelle L’Hardy (1836–37), a paralyzed Swiss girl who self-hypnotized a celestial choir to assuage menacing pain. When the French doctor and pioneer Antoine Despine finally learned of her nightly choir, he recalled his clinical experience with former patients who had presented with ecstasy (occasionally a symptom of hysteria). Despine had successfully treated them with mesmerism, so he added mesmerism to Estelle’s treatment plan. Within months, Estelle walked. Over the centuries a French doctor, a Swiss doctor, and an American doctor championed Despine. They deepened the understanding of this cohort of bewildering patients who generally have an early history of overwhelming, chronic trauma and develop hysteria or double consciousness, later called multiple personalities (or identities) now termed dissociative identity disorder. In his idiosyncratic way, Dickens is aligned with these three doctors. A circumstantial case proposes that Dickens (two close friends were familiar with the Estelle case) worked strategic variations on Estelle’s case to heighten the drama in Fanny Cleaver/Jenny Wren’s story of her ecstatic state in which the blessed children would comfort her. Dickens identified the reserves of transformational energy in Estelle’s ecstasy and harnessed them for Fanny-Jenny—adding, heightening, dropping elements from the Estelle case—as he improvised his small seamstress. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e57f299688b2440681d54c42cdde4b52 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj-art-e57f299688b2440681d54c42cdde4b522025-01-30T10:20:58ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492012-01-0110.4000/cve.12307Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental SciencesCarole Koepke BrownIn Our Mutual Friend, Dickens brilliantly exploits the medical climax in the recovery of the ‘incurable’ Estelle L’Hardy (1836–37), a paralyzed Swiss girl who self-hypnotized a celestial choir to assuage menacing pain. When the French doctor and pioneer Antoine Despine finally learned of her nightly choir, he recalled his clinical experience with former patients who had presented with ecstasy (occasionally a symptom of hysteria). Despine had successfully treated them with mesmerism, so he added mesmerism to Estelle’s treatment plan. Within months, Estelle walked. Over the centuries a French doctor, a Swiss doctor, and an American doctor championed Despine. They deepened the understanding of this cohort of bewildering patients who generally have an early history of overwhelming, chronic trauma and develop hysteria or double consciousness, later called multiple personalities (or identities) now termed dissociative identity disorder. In his idiosyncratic way, Dickens is aligned with these three doctors. A circumstantial case proposes that Dickens (two close friends were familiar with the Estelle case) worked strategic variations on Estelle’s case to heighten the drama in Fanny Cleaver/Jenny Wren’s story of her ecstatic state in which the blessed children would comfort her. Dickens identified the reserves of transformational energy in Estelle’s ecstasy and harnessed them for Fanny-Jenny—adding, heightening, dropping elements from the Estelle case—as he improvised his small seamstress.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/12307 |
| spellingShingle | Carole Koepke Brown Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental Sciences Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| title | Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental Sciences |
| title_full | Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental Sciences |
| title_fullStr | Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental Sciences |
| title_full_unstemmed | Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental Sciences |
| title_short | Estelle L’Hardy’s Ecstatic State and Jenny Wren’s Blessed Children: Dickens’s Invention within the Evolving Mental Sciences |
| title_sort | estelle l hardy s ecstatic state and jenny wren s blessed children dickens s invention within the evolving mental sciences |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/12307 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carolekoepkebrown estellelhardysecstaticstateandjennywrensblessedchildrendickenssinventionwithintheevolvingmentalsciences |