Le Bras, Anatole (Author)
Artières, Philippe (Author)
CNRS Éditions
Physical Details: 250
Language: French
Mars 1896. Entre les murs de l'asile d'aliénés Saint-Athanase de Quimper, l'interné Paul Taesch, 22 ans, rédige son autobiographie. La découverte de ce document exceptionnel et émouvant, conservé dans son dossier de patient, a été le point de départ d'une incroyable enquête dans les archives. C'est le résultat de ce travail que présente ici Anatole Le Bras, composant un récit à plusieurs voix du destin de Paul Taesch.Né en 1874 d'un père inconnu et d'une mère morte en couches, Paul est interné dès l'âge de 12 ans à la section pour enfants aliénés de Bicêtre. Diagnostiqué épileptique, débile, hystérique ou encore dégénéré, le voilà ballotté d'une institution à l'autre, entre Paris, Ville-Évrard et Quimper. Cet itinéraire de souffrance, de liberté volée, d'espoirs déçus, offre un éclairage saisissant sur la réalité asilaire à la fin du XIXe siècle.Tenu à distance par sa famille, cerné entre la rigueur de l'enfermement et la misère qui le guette aux portes de l'institution, Paul défie pourtant l'autorité médicale en prétendant n'être qu'un simulateur et n'avoir jamais été malade. En confrontant son discours à celui des médecins et de sa famille, Anatole Le Bras rouvre le grand dossier de l'hystérie : quelle est la nature de cette étrange pathologie, à mi-chemin entre simulation et folie, qui justifie l'internement de cet enfant ? En redonnant vie à la figure d'un jeune " anormal ", Anatole Le Bras signe une étude majeure sur l'enfance aliénée au XIXe siècle et l'histoire de la psychiatrie du point de vue du patient. "March 1896. Between the walls of the Saint-Athanase insane asylum in Quimper, the internee Paul Taesch, 22, writes his autobiography. The discovery of this exceptional and moving document, kept in his patient file, was the starting point of an incredible investigation in the archives. It is the result of this work that Anatole Le Bras presents here, composing a story in several voices of the fate of Paul Taesch.Born in 1874 of an unknown father and a mother who died in childbirth, Paul was interned from the age 12 in the section for insane children of Bicêtre. Diagnosed with epilepsy, weakling, hysterical or even degenerate, he was tossed around from one institution to another, between Paris, Ville-Évrard and Quimper. This itinerary of suffering, of stolen freedom, of disappointed hopes, sheds a striking light on the asylum reality at the end of the 19th century. Kept at a distance by his family, surrounded between the rigor of confinement and the misery that awaits him. at the gates of the institution, Paul nevertheless defies medical authority by claiming to be only a simulator and never to have been ill. By comparing his discourse with that of the doctors and his family, Anatole Le Bras reopens the great file of hysteria: what is the nature of this strange pathology, halfway between simulation and madness, which justifies the internment of this child? By reviving the figure of an "abnormal" young person, Anatole Le Bras signs a major study on alienated childhood in the 19th century and the history of psychiatry from the point of view of the patient."
...MoreReview Kim M. Hajek (2020) Review of "Un enfant à l'asile. Vie de Paul Taesch". Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (pp. 213-215).
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