Butcher : father of modern gyno-psychiatry / Joyce Carol Oates.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2024Copyright date: ©2024Edition: First editionDescription: 331 pages ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780593537770
- 0593537777
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
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Dr. James Carlson Library | Fiction | New | OATES, JOYCE | Checked out | 07/15/2024 | 33111011473416 | |||
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Adult Book
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Main Library | Fiction | New | OATES, JOYCE | Available | 33111011357874 | ||||
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Adult Book
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Northport Library | Fiction | New | OATES, JOYCE | Checked out | 07/05/2024 | 33111011161177 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women's asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world
In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, "Father of Gyno-Psychiatry," as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state--women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir's ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir's primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.
Narrated by Silas Weir's eldest son, who has repudiated his father's brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.
"A novel"--Cover.
This is a work of fiction incorporating episodes from the lives of the historic J. Marion Sims, M.D. (1813-1883), "The Father of Modern Gynecology"; Silas Weir Mitchell, M.D. (1829-1914), "The Father of Medical Neurology"; and Henry Cotton, M.D. (1876-1933), Director of the New Jersey Lunatic Asylum, 1907-1930.
"In the 1840s, a young man named Silas Weir begins practicing medicine in Pennsylvania. Though he is considered inept by family, neighbors, and even his mentor, Dr. Weir discovers he has a gift for phlebotomy, treating patients by bleeding them to purify their bodies. But when an experimental procedure goes horribly wrong, Dr. Weir is forced to start over, relocating his family to Trenton, New Jersey, and taking a position at the New Jersey State Asylum for Female Lunatics. There, in the hopes of proving his detractors wrong, Dr. Weir continues practicing dangerous procedures, and soon becomes infatuated with Brigit--a pregnant woman he treats--whom he tries to take her under his wing as an apprentice. As Dr. Weir's experiments grow more intense--and as he isolates himself from his family and the world beyond the facility--he grows obsessed with Brigit and the other residents who remain at his mercy, and before long, establishes himself as 'the father of gyno-psychiatry'"-- Provided by publisher.