Human Traces is a 2005 novel by British writer Sebastian Faulks,[1][2][3] best known for his novels Birdsong and Charlotte Gray. Human Traces 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.
 First edition (publ. Hutchinson) | |
| Author | Sebastian Faulks |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
Publication date | September 26, 2005 |
| ISBN | 978-0-091-79455-2 |
Plot overview
editTracing 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.
Background
editFaulks called the novel "a Sisyphean task", writing, "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.[4]
Reception
editWhilst some have criticised Human Traces as excessively expository, detailed and didactic, it has also been considered wide-ranging, ambitious and well written. It has enjoyed commercial success, having been a bestseller in the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ "Human Traces". Kirkus Reviews. 15 June 2006. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks". Publishers Weekly. 19 June 2006. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "Human Traces". Booklist. 1 September 2006. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "Parting with the art of war". The Australian. 28 April 2007.[dead link]
External links
edit- Faulks, Sebastian (2006). Human Traces. Vintage books. ISBN 0-09-945826-8.