As I was dying: an examination of classic literature and dying
Article Abstract:
A physician with widespread metastatic cancer looks for insights among great writers of poetry, drama, novels, and philosophy on dying and on how a fullfilling life should be lived. Few authors deal directly with insights into death and the experience of dying. Emily Dickinson's poetry, Alcott's Little Women, and Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Illych are exceptions. Faulkner's As I Lay Dying explores the impact on a family. Hemingway writes that every death diminishes all of us and that strength and courage are not exclusive to the young. Thornton Wilder's Our Town and Thoreau's Walden teach that life should be enjoyed because it is brief. Thoreau and Emerson stress finding peace in communing with nature. Aristotle says that happiness comes from living a virtuous life. Descartes and Thomas Paine reason that God must exist, but Paine, at least, rejects the formal church. Of all these and others, Thoreau, Alcott, and Wilder proved the most helpful.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1996
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Literature and medicine: an on-line guide
Article Abstract:
The Literature and Medicine Database (http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med) is a valuable online resource of literature relevant to medicine, healing, and illness. The database is designed for medical educators seeking to use literature in their curriculum, such as stories about children with cancer. Use of this material may help physicians-in-training develop the human qualities necessary to communicate with and heal their patients.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1998
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Helping physicians to keep abreast of the medical literature: Medical and Philosophical Commentaries, 1773-1795
Article Abstract:
The history of the Medical and Philosophical Commentaries is described, focusing on the man who created it. Andrew Duncan, Sr., was an Edinburgh doctor who created the first review of medical books and other publications, as well as medical cases and observations.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 2000
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