Nikolai Gogol’s Diary of a
Madman describes the gradual mental
disintegration of the narrator; we are submerged into the distorted
reality of the pathetic Poprishchin who goes from humble document
copier to imaginary king of Spain throughout the course of the
story. Gogol gives us a fascinating insight into the steady
progression of psychosis, from an initial vague delusional
mood:
“I couldn’t get that
Spanish business out of my head. How could a woman inherit the
throne? They wouldn’t allow it… I must confess these events shook
me up so much I couldn’t put my mind to anything else all day.”
Soon Poprishchin becomes convinced that he
is the rightful heir to the Spanish throne:
“Today is a day of triumph. There is a
king of Spain. He has been found at last. That king is me. I only discovered
this today. Frankly, it all came to me in a flash. I cannot
understand how I could even think or imagine for one moment I was
only a titular councillor.”
Further to the
eloquently written prose, the ingenious use of increasingly bizarre
neologisms in the dates of each entry (such as
“86th Martober”) allows us to gauge
the diarist’s progressive loss of contact with reality. When
Poprishchin is finally admitted to an asylum, an experience which
he interprets to be an inquisition by the Spanish, we are called on
to provide meaning and coherence to the narrative that he himself
cannot offer.
Diary of a
Madman delivers a comprehensive ‘case
history’ of illness and treatment from the patient’s viewpoint and
allows us to better comprehend the lived experience of psychosis.
As we meet Poprishchin before he deteriorates into insanity, we are
given an insight into the prodrome of symptoms that appears to
precede his psychotic episode. Indeed, as clinicians often only see
patients at fragmented crisis points in their lives, narratives
such as this can give an insight into the continuity and totality
of patient’s lives that we would otherwise be unaware of.
Reviewed by Kate Burley, fifth year
medical student, University of Birmingham