Research Catalog

Title

The fox & Dr. Shimamura / Christine Wunnicke ; translated from the German by Philip Boehm.

Author

Wunnicke, Christine, 1966-

Publication

• New York : New Directions Publications, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Boehm, Philip

Description

151 pages; 21 cm

Summary

"The Fox and Dr. Shimamura toothsomely encompasses Japan and Europe, memory and actuality, fox-possession myths and psychiatric mythmaking. The novel begins near the story's end, in Dr. Shimamura's retirement. A feverish invalid, he's watched over by four women: his wife, his mother, his mother-in- law, and a nurse (originally one of his psychiatric patients). His mother is busily writing and rewriting his biography, Between Genius and Madness. As an outstanding young Japanese medical student at the end of the nineteenth century, Dr. Shimamura is sent--to his dismay--to the provinces: he is asked to cure scores of young women of an epidemic of fox possession. He considers the assignment a joke, believing it's all a hoax, until he sees a fox moving under the skin of a beauty. He comes to believe not just in fox possession, but also that he in fact "cured" the young woman with a kiss, by breathing in the fox demon (the root of his lifelong fever). Next he travels to Europe and works with such luminaries as Charcot, Breuer and (briefly) Freud himself (whose methods he concludes are incompatible with Japanese politeness). The ironic parallels between Charcot's hack theories of female "hysteria" and Japanese ancient folklore--when it comes to beautiful writhing young women--are handled with a lightly sardonic touch by Christine Wunnicke, whose flavor-packed language is a delight"--

Uniform Title

Fuchs und Dr. Shimamura. English

Alternative Title

• Fuchs und Dr. Shimamura.
• Fox and Doctor Shimamura
• Fox and Dr. Shimamura
• Fox & Doctor Shimamura

Subject

• Psychiatrists > Fiction
• Foxes > Fiction
• Demoniac possession > Fiction
• Japanese fiction
• Europe

Genre/Form

• Magic realist fiction.
• Novels.

Note

• "New Directions paperbook original" -- title page.
• Originally published as Der Fuchs und Dr. Shimamura by Berenbberg Verlag in 2015.

Language (note)

• Translated from the German.

Call Number

JFD 19-2835

ISBN

• 9780811226240
• 0811226247

LCCN

2018039751

OCLC

1060177861

Author

Wunnicke, Christine, 1966- author.

Title

The fox & Dr. Shimamura / Christine Wunnicke ; translated from the German by Philip Boehm.

Publisher

New York : New Directions Publications, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Language

Translated from the German.

Added Author

Boehm, Philip, translator.

Other Form:

Online version: Wunnicke, Christine, 1966- author. Fox and Dr. Shimamura New York : New Directions Publications, [2019] 9780811226257 (DLC) 2018052091

Research Call Number

JFD 19-2835