The Story Of Blanche And Marie by Per Olov Enquist
Having been diagnosed with hysteria in 1878, Blanche Wittman was committed to Salpetriere Hospital for sixteen years. Under the care of the famous M. Charcot she was regularly displayed before a public audience in a cataleptic state. Over time the nature of her participation in these demonstrations changed, as did her relationship with M. Charcot, until eventually she graduated from patient to assistant. On leaving the hospital she was hired by Marie Curie to work in her Paris laboratory, where, on 17 February 1898, after successful experiments conducted with the mineral pitchblende, radium was discovered. So enchanted was Marie by its soft blue glow that she took to keeping a glass vial of radium salts at her beside. For Blanche, the effects were more brutal; exposure to radiation necessitated the amputation of all her limbs, save one. Marie did not escape tragedy altogether; her husband and collaborator Pierre was weakened by illness and subsequently killed having wandered in front of an oncoming horse and cart. Following Pierre's death Marie embarked on an ill-fated love affair which, in 1911, almost cost her a second Nobel Prize. Using Blanche's notebooks - "The Book of Questions" - Enquist deftly weaves fact and fiction to render the extraordinary relationship of two extraordinary women at the dawn of a century of tremendous change. Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and Emmeline Pankhurst are among the many that add to the authenticity of this powerful tale of scientific discovery, death, art and love.
Per Olov Enquist is one of Sweden's most acclaimed writers: a novelist, playwright and poet with works published in more than twenty-five countries. His novel, The Visit of the Royal Physician, was awarded the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2003.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781843432333 |
| ISBN 10 | 1843432331 |
| Title | The Story Of Blanche And Marie |
| Author | Per Olov Enquist |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2006-10-05 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2007 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |