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"It all began one morning last July when we noticed a
young man of twenty-six crying in his bed in Dr. Pitre's
ward. He had just come from a long journey on foot and was
exhausted, but that was not the cause of his tears. He wept
because he could not prevent himself from departing on a
trip when the need took him; he deserted family, work, and
daily life to walk as fast as he could, straight ahead,
sometimes doing 70 kilometers a day on foot, until in the
end he would be arrested for vagrancy and thrown in
prison."
--Dr. Philippe Tissie, July 1886
Thus begins the recorded case history of Albert Dadas, a
native of France's Bordeaux region and the first diagnosed
mad traveler, or fuguer. An occasional employee of a local
gas company, Dadas suffered from a strange compulsion that
led him to travel obsessively, often without identification,
not knowing who he was or why he traveled. He became
notorious for his extraordinary expeditions to such
far-reaching spots as Algeria, Moscow, and Constantinople.
Medical reports of Dadas set off at the time of a small
epidemic of compulsive mad voyagers, the epicenter of which
was Bordeaux, but which soon spread throughout France to
Italy, Germany, and Russia.
Today we are similarly besieged by mental illnesses of
the moment, such as chronic fatigue syndrome and attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder. The debate rages about which
of these conditions are affectations or cultural artifacts
and which are "real." In Mad Travelers, Ian Hacking uses the
Dadas case to weigh the legitimacy of cultural influences
versus physical symptoms in the diagnosis of psychiatric
disorders. He argues that psychological symptoms find stable
homes at a given place and time, in "ecological niches"
where transient illnesses flourish.
Using the records of Dadas's physician, Philippe Tissie,
Hacking attempts to make sense of this strange epidemic.
While telling his fascinating tale, he raises probing
questions about the nature of mental disorders, the cultural
repercussions of their diagnosis, and the relevance of this
century-old case study for today's overanalyzed society.
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"This book will be a significant addition to work on
psychiatry and culture. Hacking has a flair for narrative, a
dry wit, and at his best even an extraordinary eloquence as
a writer that makes his work both readable and
resonant."
--Elaine Showalter, auhor of Hystories:
Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media
"Ian Hacking is one of science and medicine's most
valuable assets--because he is a thoroughgoing humanist--and
one of the humanities' most useful citizens--because he
takes science and medicine seriously."
--Robert A. Nye, author of Crime, Madness,
and Politics in Modern France
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