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Hysteria Complicated by Ecstasy offers a rare window into the inner life of a person ordinarily inaccessible to historians: a semiliterate peasant girl who lived almost two centuries ago, in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Eighteen-year-old Nanette Leroux fell ill in 1822 with a variety of incapacitating nervous symptoms. Living near the spa at Aix-les-Bains, she became the charity patient of its medical director, Antoine Despine, who treated her with hydrotherapy and animal magnetism, as hypnosis was then called. Jan Goldstein translates, and provides a substantial introduction to, the previously unpublished manuscript recounting Nanette's strange illness--a manuscript coauthored by Despine and Alexandre Bertrand, the Paris physician who memorably diagnosed Nanette as suffering from "hysteria complicated by ecstasy." While hysteria would become a fashionable disease among urban women by the end of the nineteenth century, the case of Nanette Leroux differs sharply from this pattern in its early date and rural setting. Filled with intimate details about Nanette's behavior and extensive quotations of her utterances, the case is noteworthy for the sexual references that contemporaries did not recognize as such; for its focus on the difference between biological and social time; and for Nanette's fascination with the commodities available in the region's nascent marketplace. Goldstein's introduction brilliantly situates the text in its multiple contexts, examines it from the standpoint of early nineteenth-century medicine, and uses the insights of Foucault and Freud to craft a twenty-first-century interpretation. A compelling, multilayered account of one young woman's mental afflictions, Hysteria Complicated by Ecstasy is an extraordinary addition to the cultural and social history of psychiatry and medicine.

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This volume is the first to address Foucault's influence and the potential of his work in the understanding and the writing of history. It does so critically and accessibly. Scholars from the United States, France and Italy, including historians, sociologists, an anthropogist and a philosopher, range over Foucault's writing - on love and the family in classical antiquity, the constitution of the self, the history of science and sexuality, to the origins of the liberal state. But, true to its subject, this book does not conceive of history divorced from philosophy: it explores how Foucault's understanding of the past relates to his ideas of truth, ethics, knowledge and action. All-in-all, the book offers a series of mind-opening perspectives on Foucault's work, on the past, and on the present.

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Four perfect strangers. Three days. Can one weekend away change your life? The unputdownable new drama by one of Australia's most beloved storytellersComing together for a writing workshop with bestselling author Jan Goldstein, four strangers converge upon a luxury forest retreat. But along with their notepads and laptops, each of the participants has brought some emotional baggage.Beth is a solo parent and busy career woman haunted by a tragic car accident. Simone, the youngest at 26, is a successful Instagram star but she's hiding behind a facade. Jamie is the only man. He's a handsome personal trainer - but he looks out of place with a pen in his hand. Finally, Alice is a wife and mum recovering from post-natal depression. She and Jamie soon realise they are not such perfect strangers after all.Only one thing is for sure: on this creative getaway, nothing will go according to script.'The Long Weekend delivers to readers the perfect chance to escape from their own lives, if just for a few hours. Readers can expect a raft of revelations around postnatal depression, secret affairs, hidden identities, parental neglect and untold truths, with a few steamy sex scenes' Books+Publishing'Delves deep into themes of secret affairs, hidden identities, parental neglect and untold truths' Who Weekly'Fiona Palmer is a writer who demonstrates great facility for storytelling, for swiftly moving a plot along. She writes relatable characters. I have no doubt that The Long Weekend will be another bestseller' Living Arts Canberra'An emotionally charged and engaging novel, with a good and interesting cast' Canberra WeeklyPraise for Fiona Palmer:'There's an honesty to Palmer's characters that transports you into the heart of their worlds' Australian Women's Weekly'It's a story about family, female empowerment and matters of the heart' Woman's Day'Her books are tear-jerkers and page-turners' Sydney Morning Herald'Fiona Palmer just keeps getting better' RACHAEL JOHNS'Heartbreak, love and sibling relationships' New Idea

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