PubMed · 14679713
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Rita Charon, Maura Spiegel. 2003. Editors' preface discursive bodies, embodied text.. https://doi.org/10.1353/lm.2003.0024
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OBJECTIVES: To document biomedical paper titles containing literary and other allusions. DESIGN: Retrospective survey. SETTING: Medline (1951 to mid-2005) through Dialog Datastar. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Allusions to Shakespeare, Hans Christian Andersen, proverbs, the Bible, Lewis Carroll, and movie titles, corrected and scaled for five year periods 1950-4 to 2000-4. RESULTS: More than 1400 Shakespearean allusions exist, a third of them to "What's in a name" and another third to Hamlet-mostly to "To be or not to be." The trend of increasing use of allusive titles, identified from Shakespeare and Andersen, is paralleled by allusions to Carroll and proverbs; the trend of biblical allusions is also upward but is more erratic. Trends for newer allusions are also upwards, including the previously surveyed "paradigm shift." Allusive titles are likely to be to editorial or comment rather than to original research. CONCLUSIONS: The similar trends are presumably a mark of a particular learnt author behaviour. Newer allusions may be becoming more popular than older ones. Allusive titles can be unhelpful to reviewers and researchers, and many are now clichés. Whether they attract readers or citations is unknown, but better ways of gaining attention exist.
Welcome to a new series in which we invite distinguished psychiatrists from around the world to select the 12 books they have found valuable in shaping their ideas and influencing their clinical practice. I must be candid. I was totally won over to the intrinsic worth of doing such an exercise when I was invited to contribute to the '10 books' series of the British Journal of Psychiatry. I had to think long and hard but the effort was exhilarating. I discovered in an odd sort of way the figures who have proved central to the development of my career. Peter Tyrer, the Editor of the British Journal, graciously encouraged me to imitate the 10 books column. Hence the 'rounded dozen' concept. (I had immense difficulty confining myself to 10 books when I had to make my selections and thought a couple of extra places would not go amiss!) I am delighted that a dear friend and mentor, the eminent German psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and family therapist, Helm Stierlin, acepted my invitation to launch the new column. His 'essay' is not only replete with fascinating psychiatric history but also reveals a colleague who is able to maintain an eager curiosity about the nature of our marvellous profession and a willingness to alter his way of thinking in the light of new conceptual and empirical knowledge. I commend his essay to you and hope you are as inspired by it as I am. I shall be inviting other eminent psychiatrists to prepare a 'rounded dozen' but welcome any suggestions from the readership for potential contributors. Sidney Bloch Editor
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