''Human Traces'' is a 2005
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by
Sebastian Faulks, best known as the British author of ''
Birdsong'' and ''
Charlotte Gray''. The novel took Faulks five years to write. It tells of two friends who set up a pioneering asylum in 19th-century Austria, in tandem with the evolution of psychiatry and the start of the
First World War.
Plot overview
Tracing the intertwined lives of Doctors Thomas Midwinter, who is English, and Jacques Rebière, from
Brittany, France, ''Human Traces'' explores the development of
psychiatry and
psychoanalysis in the late 19th century, by way of excursions into first
alienism then
metaphysics,
human evolution and
neuroscience, before the search for what it means to be human takes us into a brief foray into the
First World War. Central to the plot is the theory of
bicameral mentality.
Whilst some have criticised ''Human Traces'' as excessively
expository
Narrative exposition is the insertion of background information within a story or narrative. This information can be about the setting, characters' backstories, prior plot events, historical context, etc. In literature, exposition appears in t ...
, detailed and
didactic
Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...
, it has also been considered wide-ranging, ambitious and well written. It has enjoyed commercial success, having been a bestseller in the United Kingdom.
Faulks himself says of his novel:
'Human Traces was a
Sisyphean task. After spending five years in libraries reading up on madness, psychiatry and psychoanalysis (my office had charts and timelines and things plastered all over the walls), the act of finishing it felt like a bereavement.
''The Australian'', Books, 28 April 2007 'Parting with the art of war
/ref>
References
External links
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{{Sebastian Faulks
2005 British novels
Novels by Sebastian Faulks
Novels set in Austria
Hutchinson (publisher) books
Anthropology
History of psychiatry