It is quite remarkable that Dame AC made use of Munchausen's Syndrome so effectively even before it had become part of common medical lexicon. (Wiki note: despite empirical evidence that docs were aware of, this condition itself was largely unnamed until 1951). And the subtlety of her violence makes it even starker, giving us the template for the most villainous villains whose infamy lies in their ability to manipulate instead of ranting and screaming.
I hadn't thought of Munchausen's Syndrome in this context even when writing about it! I am wondering if, in her capacity as a nurse, she did come cross patients presenting this. Although, much of her nursing was done during the first world war and wherever she has written about her experiences, she refers to mostly wounded soldiers and airforce men.
In multiple stories, she describes these hypochondriacs as having a keen interest in doctors and medical attention and ever willing to try new diagnostic methods and treatments. But she's also used it to good effect in her mysteries. In one story, the person assumed to be a hypochondriac did actually suffer from an actual illness. In another, a person plays this fake-invalid role to give themselves an alibi for a crime.
Such a beautiful take on violence — you're right, it takes so many forms. Loved the two cases of thallium poisoning you've mentioned too, how interesting to think that fiction can be the key to unlock actual crimes. Hehe, the cipher at the end is just perfect. I'm trying to think of the use of ciphers in crime fiction, I wonder if there have been any?
Oh, there are lots. Dorothy L Sayers was an especially fan of ciphers and acrostics. In fact, I think there's so much material here it could be an episode in itself. Thank you for the idea, Devayani!
She did manipulation extremely well. In addition to above novels, in The Third Girl the protagonist initially believes she might have committed the murder herself because of the psychological manipulation she’s subjected to, but it turns out she is not the murderer. This is a Hercule Poirot book where investigates and finds the real killer.
She knows very well in how to document human depravity in her books and is acutely aware of of social-political environment and how it affects power imbalance. Yes she wrote pretty violent stuff. And we read this as young ones, lol.
It is quite remarkable that Dame AC made use of Munchausen's Syndrome so effectively even before it had become part of common medical lexicon. (Wiki note: despite empirical evidence that docs were aware of, this condition itself was largely unnamed until 1951). And the subtlety of her violence makes it even starker, giving us the template for the most villainous villains whose infamy lies in their ability to manipulate instead of ranting and screaming.
Good read, this!
I hadn't thought of Munchausen's Syndrome in this context even when writing about it! I am wondering if, in her capacity as a nurse, she did come cross patients presenting this. Although, much of her nursing was done during the first world war and wherever she has written about her experiences, she refers to mostly wounded soldiers and airforce men.
In multiple stories, she describes these hypochondriacs as having a keen interest in doctors and medical attention and ever willing to try new diagnostic methods and treatments. But she's also used it to good effect in her mysteries. In one story, the person assumed to be a hypochondriac did actually suffer from an actual illness. In another, a person plays this fake-invalid role to give themselves an alibi for a crime.
Such a beautiful take on violence — you're right, it takes so many forms. Loved the two cases of thallium poisoning you've mentioned too, how interesting to think that fiction can be the key to unlock actual crimes. Hehe, the cipher at the end is just perfect. I'm trying to think of the use of ciphers in crime fiction, I wonder if there have been any?
Oh, there are lots. Dorothy L Sayers was an especially fan of ciphers and acrostics. In fact, I think there's so much material here it could be an episode in itself. Thank you for the idea, Devayani!
She did manipulation extremely well. In addition to above novels, in The Third Girl the protagonist initially believes she might have committed the murder herself because of the psychological manipulation she’s subjected to, but it turns out she is not the murderer. This is a Hercule Poirot book where investigates and finds the real killer.
She knows very well in how to document human depravity in her books and is acutely aware of of social-political environment and how it affects power imbalance. Yes she wrote pretty violent stuff. And we read this as young ones, lol.
You're absolutely right! I had completely forgotten about Third Girl as it's not been one of my favourites. But the gaslighting there is devious.
I also enjoyed learning how Christie saved lives!