Abstracts fra Bibliotek for Læger 1/2012

Originalartikel: Den lunefulde eros. En introduktion til Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsens live og værk
Jógvan Isaksen

The capricious Eros. An introduction to Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen

Bibl Læger 2012;204:5-13.

The article offers an introduction to the Danish-Faroese author Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen (1900-1938), who wrote his bestselling novel “Barbara” (translated into English in 1948), while struggling with pulmonary tuberculosis. He succumbed to the disease at the age of 37.

Originalartikel: “Det fryser, men vaaren er i luften og lyset”. Jøregen-Frantz Jacobsens sygdom og død belyst gennem hans breve
Else Lidegaard

“It is freezing cold, but spring is in the air and in the light”. Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen’s illness and death reflected by his letters

Bibl Læger 2012;204:14-35.

The Faroese author Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen (1900-1938) suffered from tuberculosis from the age of 22. Through letters to his close friend and colleague William Heinesen (1900-1991) and to the passion of his life, Estrid Bannister Good (1904-2000), we get an authentic impression of how he coped with his chronic disease. Without denying the great pains he underwent, he remained grateful to his fate, because it opened his eyes to the true values of life. “I don’t go for happiness nor wellness, but I am, for better and for worse, in love with my own lot. Life becomes more intense when Death is near”, he wrote. As tuberculosis spread all over his body, and the branches of his tree of life withered away, he combated death by creating new life: the grand novel “Barbara”, built upon his hopeless love in Estrid, who is the model of the novel’s main character (and who later translated it into English). Looking at his life as a whole, the title of this article, which are the final words of the last letter to William Heinesen, might well be considered symbolic.

Originalartikel: Blichers læger. Steen Steensen Blichers sygdomme og lægerne I hans liv og noveller
Jens Steensberg

Blicher’s doctors. Steen Steensen Blicher’s illnesses and the doctors in his life and short stories

Bibl Læger 2012;204:36-59.

Steen Steensen Blicher (1782-1848), a country parson in Jutland, was an outstanding story-teller in the Golden Age of Danish literature, but remains little known outside of Denmark. This paper des¬cribes his illnesses and the doctors who treated him, to the extent that they are known. In 1837, Blicher suffered from a severe attack of “rheumatic fever” and expected to die. While recovering he wrote his famous collection of poems “Trækfuglene. Naturconcert” (“Migrating birds. A concert of nature”). Around New Year 1846 he stayed approximately one month in the Copenhagen Hospital for poor people under the diagnosis “debilitas nervosa”. He died in 1848 in his home after several months of illness diagnosed as “mucous fever”.

In four of his many short stories doctors are described in more or less detail. In the short story “The country doctor” we actually know the principal character, a much loved country doctor employed from 1770 to 1804 at a manor in East Jutland. In the excellent short story, “Late awakening” the like¬able doctor commits suicide when coincidently discovering that his wife during two decades has had a romantic affair with a close friend of his. We also meet a doctor employed at a maternity hospital, annoyed when being disturbed by the midwife during card-playing with friends. Finally, one short story portrays a boastful country surgeon.

Et billede fra min hverdag
Morten Schrøder

Originalartikel: Spiritualitet i hospitalssengen
Nadja Hørdam Ausker

Spirituality by the bedside

Bibl Læger 2012;204:62-75.

The use of the terms “religiosity” and “spirituality” is widespread, particularly in research on religion, faith and health. We know from studies on religious coping that religiosity and spirituality can have an impact on the psychosocial outcome of patients. Further, studies points to the fact that both spir¬ituality and conventional religiosity influence the way sick Danes understand, interpret, and handle their disease. In this article, several distinctions between spirituality and religiosity are discussed, and recommendations for future research in religion and health in a secular society like Denmark are put forward.

Originalartikel: Præsten ved hospitalssengen – hvad laver han?
Christian Juul Busch

The chaplain at the bed side – what does he do?

Bibl Læger 2012;204:76-91.

This article is a hospital chaplain’s personal report on the main aspects of his work in a Copenhagen university hospital. The article starts by introducing the characteristics of religious-existential counseling. Afterwards follows a description of common conversations on meaning and meaninglessness. Further, the themes most frequently talked about with patients are presented, and an insight into the history of counselling is offered. In addition, the ministers position in a late-modern hospital setting is discussed. The last part of the article describes religious rituals in the hospital and focuses on the importance of religious rituals to even non-religious patients. A special focus is put on baptism of children in neonate units and on communion to dying patients.

Kvartalets genstand
Morten A. Skydsgaard

Brillehistorier
Redaktionen

Interview med Klaus Larsen: Dødens teater
Redaktionen