Life in the Sick-Room

Believing herself to be suffering from an incurable condition, Harriet Martineau wrote Life in the Sick-Room in 1844. In this work, which is both memoir and treatise, Martineau seeks to educate the healthy and ill alike on the spiritual and psychological dimensions of chronic suffering. Covering such topics as "Sympathy to the Invalid," "Temper," and "Becoming Inured," the work occupies a crucial place in the culture of invalidism that prospered in Victorian England.

This Broadview edition also includes medical documents pertaining to Martineau's case; other writings on health by Martineau; excerpts from her other autobiographical writings; selected correspondence with Florence Nightingale; excerpts from contemporary works of sick-room literature; and reviews.

Writer and journalist Martineau (1802-76), first writing under the pseudonym of "An Invalid," penned this autobiographical account of the Victorian culture of "invalidism." She describes her mental and physical travails in the "sick-room," and reflects on medical, spiritual, psychological, and other aspects of the experience. Editor Frawley (English, George Washington U.) offers an introduction that explores the literary and social implications Martineau's mixed-genre narrative. Also included are a number of Martineau's other writings on medicine, an exchange of letters with Florence Nightingale, excerpts of other pieces of sickroom literature, and reviews. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Maria H. Frawley is an Associate Professor of English at George Washington University.