The farewell of Oliver Sacks, the author of "Awakenings"

Awakenings

In 1990, Robin Williams and Robert de Niro starred in an emotional film based on real events, titled in Spanish Awakenings and adapted from a book by the neurologist Oliver Sacks , Awakenings , published in 1973 and in which he told the story of a group of patients leaving a state almost vegetative, caused by a "sleeping sickness"- encephalitis lethargica -, thanks to an experimental drug, and they lived intensely for a short time before finally returning to lethargy.

The farewell of Oliver Sacks, the author of

The full life of Oliver Sacks

But this is not the story of these patients, nor of the film, which was nominated for an Oscar, but of the doctor and writer Oliver Sacks.Born in London in 1933, development all his professional life in the The United States as a doctor and university professor, although he is known worldwide as a writer, dedicated to relate and analyze neurological diseases from the point of view of patients and what they can teach us about the functioning of the mind.

Among his works include titles as eccentric as An anthropologist on Mars , The man who confused his wife with a hat , The island of the blind to color and Despertares , translated into more than 25 languages.He is also a contributor to the most prestigious American literary and scientific journals.

The farewell of Oliver Sacks, the author of

Praise and criticism

Sacks has been the subject of all possible scientific and literary recognition, with the exception of the Nobel Prize, and it is considered that his work, both scientific and informative, has contributed to a greater understanding of neurological diseases such as the Tourette syndrome , the Parkinson's disease and other conditions caused by lesions or brain tumors ; and through them, the study of these pathologies, has provided a greater understanding of how the human mind works.

The farewell of Oliver Sacks, the author of

From another perspective, Sacks has been harshly criticized by doctors who believe that he has made profit and enriched exploiting his patients, becoming called, paraphrasing one of his books: "the man who confused his patients with a literary career" .Others consider his observations about some diseases to be too anecdotal and not They are backed by serious and thorough studies.

The disease as a stimulant

If your detractors cannot say something, Sacks himself does not escape studying the disease from the point of view of patient, because he has used his conditions as an object of study and writing.

He has suffered from prosopagn osia (whose main symptom is the inability to recognize faces); In 2009 he lost stereoscopic vision because of a tumor that finally made him lose the vision of his right eye, and in the seventies, shortly after publishing Awakenings , mountaineering almost lost his life in an accident that I end up with a broken leg.

All these experiences have been reflected in his books, of course, as well as the most recent result of his fight against the disease.

Farewell

In February 2015 Oliver Sacks, 81 years old, published an article in the New York Times , entitled "From my own life&rdquo In it, with an emotional tone but also sober, he narrates his fight against cancer for nine years and that this is already in the terminal phase, leaving him just a few months old, which he also appreciates, because he will have time to fix his affairs and such Once you see his autobiography, which will be released during the month of April.

Although it is worth reading it completely, we want to close this note with the last words of his article:

« I cannot pretend that I am not afraid.But the feeling that predominates in me is gratitude.I have loved and been loved; I have received a lot and given something in return; I have read, and traveled, and thought, and written.I have had a relationship with the world, the special relationship of writers and readers.And, above all, I have been a sensitive being, a thinking animal on this beautiful planet, and that , alone, it has been an enormous privilege and an adventure »

We invite you to read about 5 historical figures whose mental disorders you don't know.

Images: Claire L.Evens , Austin Kleon , Ross Angus , Nick Kenrick

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