Gustave Flaubert’s Hidden Sickness

Abstract

Many papers, thesis or books have been written on Flaubert’s sickness. They speculate on the ‘nerve sickness’ which the author of Madame Bovary suffered. During his life and many years after his death, the diagnosis of ‘neurosis’ and even more of hysteria have been suggested. Nevertheless by reading attentively his prolific correspondence or Les Souvenirs Littéraires, written by his friend Maxime du Camp, the diagnosis of epileptic seizures is obvious. This has been perfectly demonstrated in a paper from Henri and Yvette Gastaut. Flaubert had presented at least two types of seizures: partial seizures - some with elementary visual symptoms and others with more elaborate symptoms - and generalized convulsive seizures. The identified causes of an occipital epilepsy are multiple and two hypotheses had been proposed by Gastaut and remain the most convincing: (1) an arteriovenous malformation which can explain the evolution in the recurrence of the seizures - frequent seizures at the beginning in relation with a bleeding of the malformation, then decreasing of the frequency of the seizures during the calm period - and the circumstances of death if we follow Flaubert’s doctor who evoked a ‘cerebral congestion’; (2) an occipitotemporal cerebral atrophy, the origin of which remains obscure but could explain that Flaubert, in his infancy, had some reading difficulties. The most amazing is the absence of mention of the illness in Flaubert’s work. This absence which differentiates Flaubert from Dostoevsky, Daudet and Proust throws new light on the relation between illness and literary production.