Pox: Genius, Madness, And The Mysteries Of Syphilis

by Deborah Hayden

Was Beethoven experiencing syphilitic euphoria when he composed "Ode to Joy"? Did van Gogh paint "Crows Over the Wheatfield" in a fit of diseased madness right before he shot himself? Was syphilis a stowaway on Columbus's return voyage to Europe? The answers to these provocative questions are likely "yes," claims Deborah Hayden in this riveting investigation of the effects of the "Pox" on the lives and works of world figures from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries. Writing with remarkable insight and narrative flair, Hayden argues that biographers and historians have vastly underestimated the influence of what Thomas Mann called "this exhilarating yet wasting disease." Shrouded in secrecy, syphilis was accompanied by wild euphoria and suicidal depression, megalomania and paranoia, profoundly affecting sufferers' worldview, their sexual behavior and personality, and, of course, their art. Deeply informed and courageously argued, Pox has already been heralded as a major contribution to our understanding of genius, madness, and creativity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Medical, Medicine, Disease, Historical

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2003

Reviews

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found that this was quite an enjoyable read...At first I was a bit intimidated by the format...Introductory chapters followed up by a slew of biographical pieces...But it had me hooked till the end! One aspect of these accounts I found extremely disturbing was the cavalier spreading of the disease by some of its victims, particularly the celebrated authors. (The account of one luminary painting a false sore on his penis, showing his female companion, and then assaulting her comes to mind.)

Although I love to read about syphilis in a historical context, my daily work reminds me that it is still very much with us! I'm thankful I can tell patients that it can be treated with antibiotics, but at the same time, I have to wonder how many people are living with/dying from the effects of late stage disease, now that it is somewhat off the public radar?

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book looking for something else at the library. The premise was alluring. From the jacket blurb, it sounded like many creative famous men had syphilis and that it contributed to their genius. As it turned out, a lot of famous creative men might have had syphilis. Almost nobody owns up to having this awful venereal disease which exhibits a huge variety of symptoms as it progresses through the body. I did learn that it was real bummer of a disease before the advent of penicillin--horrible pain, paralysis, blindness, & insanity can really ruin your day. Treatment with mercury and arsenic made sufferers even more miserable. However, with much of the book being a summary of various biographers saying did-didn't-did for each man featured, I came away feeling like I'd mostly wasted my time.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly Pox: etc left me curiously unsatisfied. It's not that I believe or disbelieve that various historical figures had syphilis (although I'm highly unconvinced by the Schumann chapter), it's the author's methods I have issues with. Syphilis is referred to throughout as the 'great imitator' and yet most of the time, other suggestions for what could be the cause of the symptoms shown in each "case" are not mentioned, never mind being discussed and shown to be unlikely. The one exception to this is the chapter about Hitler where the discussion about the symptoms he had that resembled Parkinson's disease is ended with "just because he had Parkinson's doesn't mean he didn't have syphilis." Which is a fair enough point, but when you're claiming all the symptoms are due to syphilis, it's a bit rich.

The symptoms are another problem. A list of them is in appendix A. Not only would I have preferred them earlier in the book, but they're so spectacularly vague and at the same time, wide-ranging. Do not give this book to a hypochondriac who has ever had sex because they will convince themselves they have syphilis.

The other problem is that a lot of the symptoms resemble those of heavy metal poisoning, particularly mercury poisoning. Now quite obviously, being poisoned by mercury doesn't rule out having syphilis, especially given that mercury was used as a treatment for syphilis, but it was also used as a treatment for a great many other things.

One of the other aims of the book was to examine how on-going syphilis, or more particularly the parts from secondary syphilis onwards, affected the work of the various "patients". I have never really appreciated the idea of focusing on one aspect of an artist's life and using it to explain everything they've ever dine and I found this book had the same problem as most works in this vein. It takes the attitude that this one thing explains all the great masterworks (and excuses the drivel) but never mentions the average. If having syphilis was so much on the minds of Oscar Wilde and James Joyce that it was their idée fixe when they wrote the Picture of Dorian Gray and Ulysses, then why was it not on their minds when they wrote other things?

Hayden does something quite clever by interleaving the "known cases" where the suffer has made admission of their disease with the "suspected" cases. I recognise a good rhetorical trick when I see one, because it enables you to go, 'see how x had the same symptoms as y, and we know x had syphilis, so y *must* have had it too' without quite being so blunt about it.

I've left the Hitler chapter till last for a reason. One, no matter how well researched the rest of it is, you get a distinct feeling that the author was working up to that chapter, it being 54 pages, when the next longest (about Oscar Wilde) is 29 pages. Now there's perfectly good and sound reasons to stop after the Hitler chapter, because the book is mostly chronologically ordered, and after 1945 penicillin became available as a treatment for syphilis, reducing the number of people affected in total and almost entirely preventing tertiary syphilis from developing. Two, I can't actually compete with the criticism that Hayden, to her credit, includes in her book, which says it is unfair, "to put the whole weight of the holocaust on the frail shoulders of that poor woman of the streets if she ever existed." (Pox pp 257, which gives a reference to Ron Rosenbaum 'Explaining Hitler' pp 197) Because it does seem to be a rather simple-minded attempt to explain Hitler's hatred of Jews so that it makes sense, rather than being a product of the times. Because obviously, if there was a reason, it can't happen again, right?! Three, she quite often cites David Irving, without mentioning his lies on some other World War 2 related issues. We're talking about a man who was described by a high court judge as someone who "for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence." (Mr. Justice Charles Gray, Irving v Penguin Books Limited, Deborah E. Lipstadt) I'm just going to suggest that, if possible, you find someone else to cite.

So yeah, I may have had issues with that chapter too.

In short, it's a lovingly crafted, well-written book, with excellent sourcing and footnoting, with the exception of David Irving, but I feel it's rather too hasty to make its cases without providing a bedrock in some of the "maybe" cases.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. I'd been wanting to read this book for a while. I've been teaching about various Sexually Transmitted Diseases to premed and nursing students, and while I worked on HIV in a lab, my background on other STDs could use a little work. And I admit, I was curious about the disease's impact on all of these men and one woman. The entire book seemed a little off as far as which chapters should be where. I would have started with an explanation of the disease first, and then go into it's history. Hayden did the opposite, which really threw me off. Actually it was halfway through the book that the disease was explained, and there were many bits of information lacking concerning the etiology of the disease.

When the author got to the real concern of the book, which was the many people who are thought to have lived and died with this disease...it was more than obvious that the author did her research. She really backed herself up with enough letters and doctor's reports, etc. to make the case for these men having syphilis. It couldn't be that hard to find some DNA left of these guys to check for genetic changes in hair, skin, bedding, etc. to test. So this part of the book was interesting. I felt that most of the people the author was talking about, probably were syphylitics. I'm not sure she proved Beethoven though, and it isn't because I'm a Deaf person who loves his music.

It does explain an awful lot about Hitler (though it doesn't excuse it). So this book provides a lot more historical information as concerns these people, and it made me very sad for most of them. But like anything that is speculated about, you cannot say outright, that they had it.

Good book, but I think some editor should have rearranged the tabl eof contents a bit...

[RachelAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating, well-researched and very convincing account of a disastrous epidemic we've had the luxury to more-or-less forget.

[Sherry Cogburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW I had no idea Syphilis was so rampant and that so many prominent historical figures suffered from it. A must read.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those non-fiction books where the author just can't help show off her research skills by making the book at least 100 pages too long. She starts rolling with examples ... and has a really, REALLY hard time stopping.

The book begins as a "history" of syphilis, but soon spirals out of control into mini-biographies of famous folk suspected of having syphilis.

The key word being "suspected" -- because there really isn't any way to know for sure, given the evidence that we have now. To her credit, the author acknowledges this.

Just three people would've sufficed for this section, but we had oodles. Granted, this was very interesting reading at times -- but at other times, like with the James Joyce chapter, it really wasn't. To me, personally, the Van Gogh chapter was the most interesting, since I used to write about him back when I was a freelance writer. Granted, syphilis was the least of Van Gogh's problems. Also granted, he's been post-diagnosed with everything from epilepsy to schizophrenia. The author notes that poor old Vincent has been post-diagnosed with at least 152 maladies at the time this was written. Who knows how many more maladies claim him as their patron saint now.

The Hitler chapter goes on forever. He's another guy who had far more problems than can be laid at the door of Syphilis. The author hinted that syphilis, caught from a Jewish prostitute, was the reason for the Holocaust. There's very little about the centuries of antisemitism that was ingrained into German society. She also took David Irving as a serious historian -- which, granted, a lot of people did until his true Nazi colors appeared.

After going into minute detail over the syphilis suspects, a few known syphilitics like Al Capone and Ivan the Terrible get only about half a page each. It's almost as if she's got tired of writing her own book.

The two Appendixes after the main text are actually more interesting than most of the chapters. She has some interesting comments in the Notes, so don't skip them ... although skipping the Joyce chapter would be okay.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to know how syphilis changed history, not how historians found out who did or didn't have syphilis.

[Sougeitu · Rating 4 out of 5]

对书名一见钟情，结果拖拖拉拉到这几天才看完。
比起给出结论，作者更喜欢陈列事实。观点比较明确，提供了一个特殊的研究态度与方向。

[Andrew Tollemache · Rating 4 out of 5]

For starters, this not a book you want to be seen prominently reading at Starbuck's or maybe you do?

Hayden's book sets out to argue that many of the famous genius madmen (and women) of the 19th century were actually suffering from decade(s) long bouts with syphilis. Although a number of people profiled have been alleged pox cariers for years, Hayden argues that by reading through their extensive collections of letters and testimonies of friends any number of figures like Beethoven, Flaubert, van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Mary and Abraham Lincoln, Nietsche and Adolph Hitler. A pattern emerges of risky sexual behavior in life, noted early infections and chancres, veiled references to their plague, hidden sin and vexing burden. Their middle years were a never ending procession of unusual ailments like depression, joint pain, intestinal issues and fits of both sleeplessness and too much sleep. Most of them finished out their final years with escalating bouts of madness.
A big take away from the book is how rampant the pox was and how rapidly it spread across Eurasia after it showed up in 1493. For years historians and epidemiologists have debated the origin of the plague, but theses days the consensus is that Columbus's men bought it back from the New World. Chris Columbus is an early suspected victim judging by his own biography.

[LillyBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a soft spot for these medical/historical postulatings, and I found this one quite enjoyable. It begins with a thorough discussion of the origins and history of syphilis, the various stages of the disease, and the attempted treatments in history. The last two-thirds of a book is a discussion of famous people who might have had (or even admitted they did have) syphilis and the course the illness took in their lives. Even though I enjoyed the book, I felt it became a bit repetitive by the end and only for the right reason: Hayden repeatedly references a list of criteria for supposing one had syphilis and organizes her argument in a very scientific manner to address each bullet point on the list. Again, the only proper thing to do. But, by necessity, it meant the format became monotonous. Additionally, I was disappointed that there was no real discussion that the tertiary stage of syphilis lead directly the "genius" of these persons, which is what was promised by the publisher's online blurb (the copy of the book I received at the library did not include this blurb).

[Tina Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well-written, if a bit paranoia-inducing. "Pox" compares the biographies of a number of notables people--including Van Gogh, Abraham & Mary Todd Lincoln, Oscar Wilde--with the symptomology of syphilis in its three stages, to alarming effect. If, as posited here, syphilis was the "disease that dare not speak its name" and infected fully 25% of the European population in the 19th century, then it is entirely possible that our whole concept of the "artistic genius" is driven by the etiology of the disease.

[Dawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched--to the point of belaboring insistence, at times. However this becomes understandable after a quick look at internet biographies reveals that STILL, in this day and age, historians attempt to subsume the source of neurological disease as anything but apparent syphilis. Syphilis is an atrocious disease, made even more deplorable by adding stigma to the afflicted wretches who suffered with its relentless deterioration. What tragedy and horror this scourge wrought, both for its victims and for societies at large.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hayden's study consists of two theses, that more creative people than we think of had syphilis, and that syphilis could have been the cause of their creativity. Although the book is speculative she has done a good job of documenting evidence for her first theses, although in some cases she's reaching. I'm not convinced of her second theses. Good general lay introduction to the history, symptoms, and course of the disease over the last 500 years.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

the assumed origin and world-wide migration of syphilis.
names many historical figures/world leaders/artists that are thought to have contracted syphilis, the treatments that were tried, and the lifestyles of the sick.

[J Eseltine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating - interesting to consider the impact this disease has had on the history of the world; terrible suffering physically and mentally, not to mention the social stigma related to this epidemic condition.

[Steve Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good insights into the effects of infectious disease on history and how trying to hide the shame for fear of stigma led to many issues. Also provides a plethora of info on the effects of syphilis. Worth a skim if you can stand areas of repetitiveness.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was harder to get through than other books. It goes through a brief history of syphilis before brief chapters on some famous people who are confirmed or rumored syphilitics.

[Kris Waldherr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp through the history of syphilis (if such a thing is possible.Popular science at its best. Really makes you wonder how much history was affected by this most insidious of diseases.

[Laura Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and written. It was almost a Who's Who of famous people with the pox. Interesting but I was more interested in the disease itself, which the first section covered well. . .

[TC]

An interesting read in the beginning, but repeated itself often enough in its evidence that it became annoying, and when the book moved onto the supposed syphilitic nature of several significant historical figures, I only read the ones that interested me. Even then, mercury was a popular treatment for several ailments in the past before penicillin was discovered, and yes, syphilis does mimic other diseases, but there are only so many times I can read about tertiary syphilis being the cause for supposed genius before I too begin to lose my mind.

[Donald Coffman]

I enjoyed this book I, as it was less a treatise on the treatment of syphilis and more a history of how syphilis affected society, given that the pox was in a sense the AIDS of its day, as before antibiotics once one got it it was lifelong, and the effects of tertiary syphilis were frightening, both in the scope of the affected areas and the fact that there was no predicting when they would occur (weeks, months, even decades).

[Sarah Overvaag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Syphilis is no longer the excruciatingly, drawn out, painful way to die that it once was. We have had the benefit of antibiotics for over 100 years, but for humans before the late 1920s, “the pox” was a terrible way to go. Before reading the book, I only knew that it was an STD, that it could be congenital, and that it could make your nose rot away. There is so much more, so many worse things than that. But there is also the euphoric genius that may happen. Beethoven, Nietzsche, Wilde, Van Gogh? Maybe, just maybe.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This discusses the history of syphilis in the early chapters, but two thirds of the book is biographies of various people who had syphilis or might have had syphilis, and details of their symptoms. That just didn't grab me (quite aside from the question of whether Hayden's right about any of them or not).

[James S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad writing! Confusing and circular, with abrupt changes in tone - the prose in this book is a model of how not to write non-fiction.

In terms of the content, much of it is in conspiracy-theory territory: someone wrote that, forty years before, someone heard that someone might have slept with someone who might have had syphilis...and so on.

[Ashley Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. A little dry in parts. Overall not a bad read. Could have shortened some of the chapters that were broken up for individuals, I mean I get that syphilis was heavily hidden in medical records so the author could have highlighted more people instead of drawing it out for the chosen ones. Not bad at all:)

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could have told you Nietzsche and Hitler had something in common. And probably a few other world "leaders" too....

[Lee Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

知识还是有一些，八卦还是真不少。

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

well done

Well researched and written. Couldn’t put it down. I recommend to anyone interested in the history of disease and their victims.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time favorites, though the scholarship is a little old and the Hitler chapter is rather questionable. Nevertheless, a frequent re-read.