Travis Isabelle
University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, RG6 6UR, Reading, Berkshire, England, UK.
J Med Humanit. 2011 Dec;32(4):315-24. doi: 10.1007/s10912-011-9155-3.
On the publication of Robert Lowell's Life Studies in 1959, some critics were shocked by the poet's use of seemingly frank autobiographical material, in particular the portrayal of his hospitalizations for bipolar disorder. During the late fifties and throughout the sixties, a rich vein, influenced by Lowell, developed in American poetry. Also during this time, the nascent science of psychopharmacology competed with and complemented the more established somatic treatments, such as psychosurgery, shock treatments, and psychoanalytical therapies. The development of Thorazine was a remarkable breakthrough allowing patients previously thought incurable to leave hospital. In 1955, the release of Miltown, the first 'minor' tranquilizer, was heralded with a media fanfare promising a new dawn of psychological cure-all. These two events blurred the boundary between 'normality' and madness by making treatment in the community more widely possible and by medicalizing more commonplace distress. Lowell's early depictions of madness situate it as emblematic of the cultural malaise of 'the tranquilized fifties.' By his final collection, Day by Day (1977), mental illness had lost its symbolic power. These late poems explore the power of art as a way of representing and remedying suffering in a culture where psychopharmacology has normalized madness.
1959年，罗伯特·洛威尔的《生活研究》出版，一些评论家对这位诗人使用看似直白的自传体素材感到震惊，尤其是他对因双相情感障碍住院治疗的描写。在五十年代后期及整个六十年代，受洛威尔影响，美国诗歌形成了丰富的创作脉络。同样在这一时期，新兴的精神药理学与更成熟的躯体治疗方法相互竞争又相互补充，如精神外科手术、休克疗法和精神分析疗法。氯丙嗪的研制是一项重大突破，使此前被认为无法治愈的患者得以出院。1955年，第一种“轻度”镇静剂眠尔通问世，媒体大肆宣扬，称其预示着心理万能药的新曙光。这两件事模糊了“正常”与疯狂之间的界限，使社区治疗更广泛地成为可能，也使更多常见的痛苦被医学化。洛威尔早期对疯狂的描绘将其视为“五十年代镇静剂时代”文化弊病的象征。到他的最后一部诗集《日复一日》（1977年）时，精神疾病已失去其象征力量。这些晚期诗歌探索了艺术的力量，将其作为在一个精神药理学已使疯狂变得正常化的文化中表现和补救痛苦的一种方式。
