Mad Travelers - Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses

Mad Travelers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses



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Ian Hacking | 1998 | ISBN: 0813918235 | English | 239 pages | PDF | 7 MB

Series: Page-Barbour Lectures

Thus begins the recorded case history of Albert Dadas, a native of France's Bordeaux region and the first diagnosed mad traveler, or fuguer. An occasional employee of a local gas company, Dadas suffered from a strange compulsion that led him to travel obsessively, often without identification, not knowing who he was or why he traveled. He became notorious for his extraordinary expeditions to such far-reaching spots as Algeria, Moscow, and Constantinople. Medical reports of Dadas set off at the time of a small epidemic of compulsive mad voyagers, the epicenter of which was Bordeaux, but which soon spread throughout France to Italy, Germany, and Russia.