Publisher's Synopsis
The new work centres on the Memoirs of Daniel Paul Schreber, perhaps the most written about of mental patients, as well as one of the most articulate. The Memoirs formed the basis of Freud's theory of paranoia, the interpretation of which was a primary cause of the split between Jung and Freud, was the basis of Bleuler's definition of schizophrenia (which is till operative today) and has been subjected to many other readings such as Canetti's attempt to connect paranoia and proto-fascist power and Wilden's to see a proto-feminism in a revolt against the forensic psychiatry and ideas of the masculine of the day. It has been a prompt to examine his relationship to his family, where other researchers have claimed to have found abuse. Und so veiter. In 1894, Daniel Paul Schreber had become a high ranking judge in Leipzig before being plunged into breakdown. He entered an asylum voluntarily but after six months was committed by his wife, his doctor and his former employer, at which point his worst experiences began. Nonetheless, he also began to work towards his release, which he achieved on appeal to the very court in which he was once the President.During his madness (and even after his release), he believed God spoke to him directly by way of what he called nerve language. His God had become the two central gods of ancient Persia. He believed that a terrible disaster had befallen the universe and that he was the last person alive. His task was to restore the cosmos by nerve contact with divine rays. In order for this to occur he had to enter the world of female voluptuousness, which would unman him.Henderson's poems enter this world of mad logic and real thought, of immense suffering, of vision and transformation, where love and freedom are just over the horizon of dark and clashing light.
