Among the famous writers of doctors, perhaps more than representatives of other professions. What do medicine and literature have in common? At first glance, nothing. But if you think about it: the doctor heals the body, the writer - the soul. If he, of course, writes good books. Writing doctors who have become classics of world literature are Rabelais. Chekhov, Celine, Bulgakov. About them and their famous colleagues described in this article.
Francois Rabelais
Neither the date nor the place of birth of the greatest French satirist are known for certain. Francois Rabelais was born in the 80s of the XV century, somewhere in the vicinity of Chinon. The future prose writer spent his childhood in the monastery, where he studied Latin, ancient Greek, history and law. After he left the monastery - medicine.
Today no one can name the works of the French doctor-writer, except for the novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel." However, the French classic in his youth combined medical practice with the writing of humorous pamphlets, which, unfortunately, have not been preserved.
Francois Rabelais was a writer, doctor, theologian, philosopher, archaeologist. This is one of the brightest figures of the Renaissance. His satirical novel about the gluttonous giants ridicules human vices, the flaws of the state and the Catholic clergy. The book outlines humanistic methods of education. No wonder the novel of the French doctor and writer is included in the program of all pedagogical universities.
Anton Chekhov
A doctor, writer, prose writer and playwright was born in 1860 in the family of the Taganrog shopkeeper. As a child, Chekhov studied in a Greek school, in his adolescent years - in a gymnasium. After the ruin of his father, in 1876, the novice writer for some time earned a living in private lessons. In 1879, he left for Moscow, where he studied medicine.
Chekhov studied under Sklifosovsky, Zakharyin. As a student, he worked part-time in a hospital. Since 1880 he worked as a district doctor. The writer Anton Chekhov was in charge of the hospital in Zvenigorod for some time.
He was engaged in writing since high school years. Later, even while working in a county, where there were always many patients, he did not stop writing. In his first year, he published several stories in the journal Dragonfly. For a long time Chekhov was perceived as a satirical writer. However, he entered the world literature as a great playwright. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov died in Germany in 1904.
The works of the Russian classic, whose heroes are medical workers, are “Dead Deal”, “Fugitive”, “Trouble”, “Surgery”, “Grief”, “On business affairs”.
Stanislav Lem
The Polish philosopher, futurologist and writer was a doctor by profession, but probably not by vocation. Stanislav Lem was born in Lviv in 1921. Came from an intelligent Jewish family. After graduating from the gymnasium named after Karol Shaynohi, Lem entered the Lviv University, at the Faculty of Medicine.
During the war years, the future writer and his family miraculously managed to avoid deportation to the ghetto. During the occupation, Lem worked as a welder, auto mechanic, participated in a resistance group. In 1945 he left for Krakow, where he continued to study medicine.
The famous Polish writer did not become a doctor. He refused to take final exams, received only a certificate, indicating the end of the course. Stanislav Lem began to write stories not out of idle pleasure - it brought income, small but tangible in the hungry post-war years. The first works were published in 1946. Later, writing became his main occupation.
Stanislav Lem died in 2006. Buried in Krakow. More than twenty works of Polish prose writer filmed. The most famous film in his book is Tarkovsky's Solaris.
Louis Ferdinand Celine
French writer, medical doctor by birth, born in 1894. Little is known about Selin's early years. The debut novel was published in 1932. Four years later, the work “Death on Credit” was released, bringing the author wide success. This book has been translated into many languages of the world.
At the turn of the thirties and forties, Celine published pamphlets "Slackers for a Pogrom", "Caught Alteration", and "School of Corpses." These works secured for him for many years the reputation of a racist, anti-Semite, and hater. After World War II, the writer was accused of collaborating with the occupiers. He was forced to leave for Germany, then Denmark, where he was arrested.
The writer spent several years in exile. In 1951 he returned to France where he worked until the end of his life as a doctor for the poor. Louis Ferdinand Celine died in 1961.
Vasily Aksenov
In the life of the writer and the doctor there were many sad events. At least in the early years. Vasily Aksyonov was born in 1932 in Kazan. Father was the chairman of the local city council. Mother taught at the pedagogical institute. In 1937, parents were arrested. The future writer, who by that time was not even five years old, was identified as a “foe of the people” in a boarding school for children.
In 1956, Vasily Aksenov graduated from the Medical Institute in Leningrad. For several years he worked as a doctor in the Far North, and later - in a tuberculosis hospital in Moscow. Since 1960 he was engaged exclusively in literary work.
Vasily Aksenov died in 2006. The most famous works of a Soviet doctor and writer have nothing to do with medicine (Star Ticket, Colleagues, Moscow Saga, Crimea Island).
Michael Bulgakov
The great writer became a doctor by family tradition. The Bulgakov brothers were doctors. One worked in Moscow, the other in Warsaw.
Mikhail Bulgakov was born in 1891 in Kiev, in the family of an assistant professor at the Theological Academy. In 1909 he graduated from high school and entered the medical faculty.
During the First World War, Mikhail Bulgakov worked as a doctor in the frontline zone. Then he was sent to the village of Nikolskoye, and even later to Vyazma. Once during the operation, Bulgakov almost became infected with diphtheria. I had to use a strong drug that caused allergies as a preventive measure. To soften the reaction to this remedy, the young doctor took morphine. Very soon, the drug turned Bulgakov's life into hell. He managed to recover from addiction, but with great difficulty.
In 1918, Mikhail Bulgakov returned to Kiev and already worked as a venereologist here. During the Civil War, he was mobilized as a military doctor.
Bulgakov first visited Moscow in 1917. Then he visited with his uncle, who became the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from the famous story. Four years later, Bulgakov moved to the capital forever. At the same time, he left medical practice and took up literary work.
The prose writer reflected the medical experience in the stories from the collection “Notes of a Young Doctor”. In recent years, the Russian writer was seriously ill to relieve unbearable pain, and began to use morphine again. In the last months of his life, completely blind, he dictated to his wife the final chapters of the novel “The Master and Margarita”. Mikhail Bulgakov died in 1940. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Kobo Abe
Giving an answer to the question about which writers were doctors, not everyone will name this prose writer. Not because there are white spots in the biography of Japanese prose writer. Much has been said about the life of the author of “Women in the Sands”. Abe received the profession of a doctor, but he preferred literature to medicine.
The future writer was born in Tokyo in 1924. He spent his childhood in Manchuria. In 1943, Abe entered the University of Tokyo at the Faculty of Medicine. Five years later he was supposed to get a diploma, but passed the state exam unsatisfactorily. This put an end to his professional career.
In 1947, the collection Anonymous Poems was published, bringing fame to the author. The poet and writer Kobo Abe never worked as a doctor. The Japanese writer died at the age of 68.
Vincent Veresaev
The above are famous medical writers. Vincent Veresaev does not occupy such an honorable place in Russian literature as, for example, Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Bulgakov. His works are less known, but he should pay a few words.
Veresaev was born in 1867 in the Tula province. He graduated from the classical gymnasium, then entered the historical and philological faculty of St. Petersburg University. In 1894 he received a medical education in Dorpat.
For five years, Veresaev worked as a resident, was in charge of the hospital library. In 1904, he served as a military doctor in Manchuria. Veresaev was fond of literature in his gymnasium years. But becoming a famous writer, he did not leave medical practice. During the war he served as a military doctor.
Famous works of Vincent Veresaev - “At an impasse”, “Perpetuation”, “Sisters”. The writer passed away in 1945 in Moscow.
Archibald Cronin
The Scottish writer and doctor is best known for his novels “The Stars Look Down,” “Brody Castle,” “Young Years”
Archibald Cronin was born in 1896 in the county of Dunbarshire. He was the only child in the family. When the future writer was seven years old, his father died. The family had to move to another city. In 1923, Cronin received a medical education. A year later, he defended his thesis on aneurysms. During the First World War he served in the Navy. The first published work of a doctor who became a writer is the novel Brody Castle. Cronin worked on this book for only three months. The manuscript was immediately accepted by the publishing house and brought success to the newly minted novelist. Archibald Cronin died in Montreux, at the 85th year of his life.
Arthur Conan Doyle
The author of a series of works about the detective Sherlock Holmes was born in 1859 in Edinburgh. His childhood cannot be called happy. The family was constantly experiencing financial difficulties due to alcoholism of his father. When the future rescuer was nine years old, he was sent to a closed college. The doctrine was paid by wealthy relatives.
In 1876, the father of the future writer was placed in a psychiatric hospital. Arthur, having graduated from college, returned home. Among his relatives there were many people of art. But Arthur Conan Doyle, oddly enough, preferred medicine. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh, and then got a ship's doctor on a whaling ship. This voyage lasted two years. From the trip, the doctor returned as an adult man with a huge baggage of impressions that formed the basis of his early works.
In 1881, Arthur Conan Doyle engaged in medical practice. And only ten years later did literature his main profession. Until the last days of his life, the writer led an active lifestyle, traveled a lot. He died on one of the July days of 1930. The death of the master of the detective genre was sudden - Arthur Conan Doyle died as a result of a heart attack.
Somerset Maugham
The British writer was born in Paris in 1874. At the age of ten years orphaned. A relative took up the upbringing of the boy. In 1896, Somerset Maugham graduated from St. Thomas Hospital, a medical school in London. However, he did not subsequently work as a doctor.
During the First World War, Maugham was an agent of British intelligence, visited Russia, met with Kerensky and Savinkov several times. In 1919 he went to China, then to Malaysia. All these travels are reflected in his adventure stories. The writer died in Nice in 1965.
Irwin Yalom
The American psychotherapist is known as the author of fiction and non-fiction. Irving Yalom was born in 1931 in a family of Russian emigrants who left their homeland during the First World War.
After leaving school, the future doctor and writer entered the University of Borgia Washington. Then he received a medical education in Boston. Irwin Yalom internship took place in New York.
This writer is one of the brightest representatives of existential psychology. In his bibliography there are many works dedicated to the harsh everyday life of psychotherapists. For example, a series of short stories “Cure for Love”.
Louis Boussenard
The French writer was born in 1847. His father was a tax collector. Mother is a maid. Louis Boussenard graduated from the medical faculty of the University of Paris. During the Franco-Prussian war he served as a regimental doctor. In the seventies, he took up literature, after which he never returned to medical practice.
Louis Boussenard is known for his adventure stories from the series “Joseph Perrault,” “Mr. Synthesis,” “Bessrebrenik.” The works of the French author were very popular in Russia. In 1911, a collection of his works in Russian in forty volumes was published. Louis Boussenard died in 1910 as a result of a long illness.
Other doctors who have become writers are Oliver Sachs, Tess Gerritsen, Arnhild Lauweng, James Buigental, Arthur Schnitzler.