The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
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"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" is a
dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
by the American author
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
. First published in ''
Graham's Magazine ''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and J ...
'' in November 1845, the story centers on a naïve and unnamed narrator's visit to a mental asylum in the southern provinces of France.


Plot summary

The story follows an unnamed
narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...
who visits a
mental institution Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
in southern France (more accurately, a "''Maison de Santé''") known for a revolutionary new method of treating
mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
es called the "system of soothing". A companion with whom he is travelling knows Monsieur Maillard, the originator of the system, and makes introductions before leaving the narrator. The narrator is shocked to learn that the "system of soothing" has recently been abandoned. He questions this, as he has heard of its success and popularity, but Maillard tells him to "believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see". The narrator tours the grounds of the hospital and is invited to dinner, where he is joined by twenty-five to thirty other people and a large, lavish spread of food. The other guests are dressed somewhat oddly: though their clothes are well made, they do not seem to fit the people very well. Most of them are female and are "bedecked with a profusion of jewelry, such as rings, bracelets and earrings, and wore their bosoms and arms shamefully bare". The table and the room are decorated with an excess of lit candles wherever it is possible to find a place for them. Dinner is also accompanied by musicians playing "fiddles, fifes, trombones and a drum", and though they seem to entertain all the others present, the narrator likens the music to horrible noises (at one point even mentioning the torture and execution device known as the
brazen bull The brazen bull, also known as the bronze bull, Sicilian bull, or bull of Phalaris, was a torture and execution device designed in ancient Greece. According to Diodorus Siculus, recounting the story in '' Bibliotheca historica'', Perilaus (or P ...
). The narrator says that there is much of the "bizarre" about everything at the dinner. Conversation as they eat focuses on the patients they have been treating. They demonstrate for the narrator the strange behavior they have witnessed, including patients who thought themselves a teapot, a donkey, cheese, champagne, a frog, snuff tobacco, a pumpkin, and others. Maillard occasionally tries to calm them down, and the narrator seems very concerned by their behavior and passionate imitations. He then learns that this staff has replaced the system of soothing with a much stricter system, which Maillard says is based on the work of a "Doctor Tarr" and a "Professor Fether". The narrator says he is not familiar with their work, to the astonishment of the others. It is finally explained why the previous system was abandoned: one "singular" incident, Maillard says, occurred when the patients, granted a large amount of liberty around the house, overthrew their doctors and nurses, usurped their positions, and locked them up as lunatics. These lunatics were led by a man who claimed to have invented a better method of treating mental illness, and who allowed no visitors except for "a very stupid-looking young gentleman of whom he had no reason to be afraid". The narrator asks how the hospital staff rebelled and returned things to order. Just then, loud noises are heard and the hospital staff breaks from their confines. It is revealed that the dinner guests are, in fact, the patients, who have just recently taken over. As part of their uprising, the inmates treated the staff to
tarring and feathering Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and punishment used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a ty ...
. The keepers now put the real patients, including Monsieur Maillard (who had once been the superintendent before going mad himself), back in their cells, while the narrator admits that he has yet to find any of the works of Dr. "Tarr" and Professor "Fether".


The "system of soothing"

Monsieur Maillard's system avoids all punishments and does not confine its patients. They are granted a great deal of freedom and are not forced to wear hospital gowns, but instead are "permitted to roam about the house and grounds in the ordinary apparel of persons in right mind". The doctors have "humored" their patients by never contradicting their fantasies or hallucinations. For example, if a man thinks he is a chicken, doctors treat him as a chicken, giving him corn to eat. The system is apparently very popular. Monsieur Maillard says that all the "''Maisons de Santé''" in France have adopted it. The narrator remarks that after the patient revolt is crushed, the soothing system is reinstated at the asylum he has visited, though modified in certain ways that are intended to reform it.


Publication history

"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" was held by editors for several months before being published in ''
Graham's Magazine ''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and J ...
'' for November 1845.


Analysis

At the time this story was written, the care of the insane was a significant political issue in the United States. People were calling for asylum reform because the mentally ill were being treated as prisoners, while increased acquittals due to the
insanity defense The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to an episodic psychiatric disease at the time of the cr ...
were criticized for allowing criminals to avoid punishment. The story has been interpreted as a satirical political commentary on American democracy, a parody of the work of
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
and
Nathaniel Parker Willis Nathaniel Parker Willis (January 20, 1806 – January 20, 1867), also known as N. P. Willis,Baker, 3 was an American author, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfello ...
, and is also understood as a critique on 19th-century medical practices.


Adaptations

*One of the plays given at the Theatre du
Grand Guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it spe ...
in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
was "Le Systéme du Dr Goudron et Pr Plume" (1903), adapted by André de Lorde. *The French film '' Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume'', also known as ''The System of Doctor Goudron'' and ''The Lunatics'' (1913), directed by
Maurice Tourneur Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...
. *The German film '' Unheimliche Geschichten'' (1932) is based on two stories by Poe: " The Black Cat" and "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether". *An opera called ''Il sistema della dolcezza'' (1948), composed by
Vieri Tosatti Vieri Tosatti (born Rome, 1920 - died there, 1999) was an Italian composer. He is best known for his operas, among them ''Il sistema della dolcezza'' (1948), after Edgar Allan Poe's "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether", and ''Partita ...
. *The Spanish film '' Manicomio'' (1954) is based on stories by several authors, including Poe's "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether". *An episode of ''
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was re ...
'' entitled "
A Home Away from Home A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...
" (27 September 1963), starring
Ray Milland Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985. He is remembered for his Academy Award and Cannes Film Festival Award-winning ...
. *The Polish TV movie ''System'' (1972). *The surreal Mexican film '' La mansión de la locura'' (1973), in English ''The Mansion of Madness (aka Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon/House of Madness)'' by
Juan López Moctezuma Juan López Moctezuma (1929 – August 2, 1995) was a Mexican film director and actor. He was born in Mexico City in 1929. During his career he directed five films, all in the genres of supernatural horror and suspense: ''The Mansion of Madness'' (1 ...
. *Director S. F. Brownrigg's movie '' The Forgotten'' (1973), also known as ''Death Ward #13'' and ''Don't Look in the Basement.'' *" (The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether" is the fifth track on ''
Tales of Mystery and Imagination ''Tales of Mystery & Imagination'' (often rendered as ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'') is a popular title for posthumous compilations of writings by American author, essayist and poet Edgar Allan Poe and was the first complete collection of ...
'', an album by
The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompanie ...
of music inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. *Czech filmmaker
Jan Švankmajer Jan Švankmajer (; born 4 September 1934) is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his stop-motion animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Ter ...
based part of his film '' Lunacy'' on this story. The film was also inspired by Poe's 1844 short story "
The Premature Burial "The Premature Burial" is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1844 in ''The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper''. Its main character expresses concern about being buried alive. This fear was common in this period and ...
", as well as the works of the
Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...
. *A one-act opera called ''A Method for Madness'' (1999), composed by David S. Bernstein to a libretto by Charles Kondek. *The animated Spanish film Gritos en el Pasillo (2007), in english Going Nuts, directed by Juanjo Ramírez, is a
stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
movie with peanuts, inspired in part by the story. *The story has been adapted for short films, including ''The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether'' (2008) (changing the location to Philadelphia) and ''Tohtori Tarrin ja professori Featherin menetelmä'' (2012). *A 2014 film adaptation is titled '' Stonehearst Asylum''.


See also

* '' O alienista'', a satiric novella by Machado de Assis about an asylum


References


External links

*
Full text on PoeStories.com
with hyperlinked vocabulary words. * {{DEFAULTSORT:System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether Short stories by Edgar Allan Poe Works adapted into operas 1845 short stories Works originally published in Graham's Magazine Works set in psychiatric hospitals Mental health in France Short stories adapted into films Short stories set in France