Madness and Glory

by Albert Rothenberg

Phillipe Pinel, the doctor who became the world's first psychiatrist, struck the chains and shackles from the mentally ill in the midst of the French Revolution. Patients were living in hideous conditions, exposed to the public as freaks, and received no useful treatment. A patient in the Bicêtre asylum/jail, former ministerial assistant Guillaume Lalladiere, manages, unchained, to escape. Hiding from hospital attendant pursuers in the streets at night, he inadvertently learns of a plot against the leaders of the Revolution. He goes through the rebellion ruled streets of Paris and tries to give warning to responsible government colleagues and others but no-one except Dr. Pinel, when Guillaume is returned to the hospital, believes him. With Dr. Pinel's treatment, as well as the support of Genevieve, Guillaume's love, and Jean-Luc, a canny young boy, he improves. But the plotters learn he has confided everything to Dr. Pinel and both are threatened with arrest and death.

374 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set during The Reign of Terror in France after the storming of the Bastille in the French Revolution, this novel is a rough riding journey through the unsettling experiences of a sympathetic but mentally ill (delusional, paranoid, catatonic at times) young hero Guillaume Lalladière, a former high ranking government accountant and right-hand man of Jacques Necker, the Minister of Finance until July 11, 1789. The desire to understand the root causes of Lalladière's illness and for a cure carries the reader through the many horrifying events of the political turmoil in Paris 1793-1794. Not so incidentally the reader also comes to learn the history of "moral therapy" as introduced to the l'Hôpital Bicêtre by the pioneering Dr. Philippe Pinel.
Alert: This book is not for the faint of heart - graphic descriptions of the standard torture treatments of the mentally ill and use of the guillotine pepper the narrative - or I should say "salt" it, as you will understand when you read the book.
One of the key novelistic devices has to do with a plot. The deranged Lalladière warns of a Machiavellian plot to first bring Maximillien Robespierre to power and then to undermine his authority. Is it just the paranoïa talking? Can anyone believe the ravings of a madman?
The setting of the political revolution has parallels to the revolution in the treatment of the mentally ill, led by Pinel. Rothenberg elicits deep musings on the uses of cruelty, the casting off of shackles both figuratively: as in Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, the ideals of the Revolution; and literally: the order by Pinel and Pussin to remove the shackles from the mental patients. Cultural norms were in turmoil. Cruelty was a norm, murder in the form of capital punishment used in the name of freedom and a spectator sport epitomized man's inhumanity to man.
Yet in the aftermath of the cataclysm, good was achieved. Do the ends justify the means?
The barbaric psychiatric treatments that had been the norm ended in suffering and death; whereas the new approach to psychiatric treatment using understanding, sympathy and personal conversation that delved into family history, enabled, through the gradual loosening of restrictions, healing and ultimately achieved the curative ends.

[Mirella · Rating 5 out of 5]

With its rich and poignant storyline, Madness and Glory is a novel that will haunt the reader long after the reading. Set in the midst of the turbulence of the French Revolution, the tale is about Guillaume Lalladiere, a high level politician who falls into madness and is imprisoned in an asylum. He comes into contact with Doctor Phillipe Pinel, a maverick and pioneer at reforming the horrendous conditions suffered by the mentally ill.

Lalladiere is a tragic character, once brilliant who has fallen into the dregs of society, misunderstood. He escapes the asylum, overhears a plot to overthrow one of the revolution’s main leaders, and is desperate for someone to listen to him. This novel is great depth, accurately recounting the horrors of the revolution and conditions of the time. The storyline is so unique, so engrossing, that it kept me turning pages long into the night. I rarely re-read books, but this book holds a special place on my bookshelf and is definitely one I will re-read again and again and again. Get this book! It’s a fabulous read!