L’air inquiet du docteur Potwel. Thérapie musicale et identité dans “Malvina” de Sophie Cottin (1801)
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29 avril 2022
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info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2421-5856
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Serious music Musical compositions Art music Musical works Classical music Western music (Western countries) Art music, Western Western art musicCiter ce document
Philippe S. Robichaud, « L’air inquiet du docteur Potwel. Thérapie musicale et identité dans “Malvina” de Sophie Cottin (1801) », Studi Francesi, ID : 10.4000/studifrancesi.47850
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In troubled post-revolutionary Paris, many médecins philosophes associated with the prehistory of psychiatry exhibit marked interest in the study of “curative” or “iatric” music, defending its value with a battery of scientific “proof”. One of the period’s best-selling novels, Sophie Cottin’s Malvina (1800), features a fictional physician, Dr. Potwel, that experiments with the effects of music on his patient, the eponymous protagonist. Malvina, who suffers from what we might today call severe depersonalization due to emotional trauma, is brought back to reality with music. The careful narration of Potwel’s curious therapeutic means not only bears witness to a shift away from purely somatic explanations of affective states, but also depicts a reflection on the irresolute position of medical professionals themselves when held accountable for the mental well-being of their patients.