A History of Fatigue (eBook)

Georges Vigarello is Director of Studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. His many books include The History of Rape: Sexual Violence in France from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century and The Metamorphoses of Fat: A History of Obesity.

Acknowledgements


Introduction


Part I: The Medieval World and the Challenge of Landmarks

Chapter 1: A Clear Picture with Cloudy Landmarks

Chapter 2: The Renowned Fatigue of the Warrior

Chapter 3: The 'Necessary' Suffering of the Traveler

Chapter 4: 'Redemptive' Fatigue

Chapter 5: Ordinary Work and Everyday Workers, a relative "silence"?

Chapter 6: Between Occult Power and the Healing Virtues of Refreshments


Part II: The Modern World and the Challenge of Categories

Chapter 7: The Invention of Degrees

Chapter 8: Inventing Categories

Chapter 9: The Advent of Numbers

Chapter 10: Diversifying Influences

Chapter 11: The Diversification of Remedies

Chapter 12: Poverty and "Exhaustion"


Part III: The Enlightenment and the Challenge of the Perceptible

Chapter 13: Feelings at Stake

Chapter 14: Nerves: From a Stimulus to a Whirlwind

Chapter 15: Speaking of Strength

Chapter 16: Suffering from Fatigue, the Beginning of Compassion

Chapter 17: Fatigue is in Demand; The Challenge Begins

Chapter 18: The Beginning of Training and the Review of Time


Part IV: The Nineteenth Century and the Challenge of Numbers

Chapter 19: The Steadfast Citizen

Chapter 20: A World of Numbers: From Mechanics to Energy

Chapter 21: A Universe Under Threat: The Poverty of the Workers

Chapter 22: The World of Output

Chapter 23: The World of "Mental Fatigue"

Chapter 24: Resistance and Growth


Part V: The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries and the Challenge of Psychology

Chapter 25: Revealing the Psyche

Chapter 26 From Hormones to Stress

Chapter 27 From the "New Man" to Tragedy

Chapter 28: The Promise of Well-Being?

Chapter 29: From Burnout to Identity


Afterword

Chapter 30: Surprises and "Viral" Dangers


Notes

Index

"Georges Vigarello is a pioneer in the history of the body with a gift for tracing the evolution of concepts over the long term. A History of Fatigue combines these talents to explore shifting understandings of fatigue from the Middle Ages right up to our present world of 'stress' and 'burn out', in the process making an original argument about the challenges and consequences of individual autonomy. Nancy Erber's lively translation preserves the engaging style that has made Vigarello so well known in his home country and will bring this important work to new audiences."
Robert Priest, Royal Holloway, University of London

"'Everything has a history, more complex than it seems.' Georges Vigarello shows this very clearly in a wide-ranging and well-organized book on a topic that might have been dismissed, before his research, as either unnecessary or impossible. A tour de force."
Peter Burke, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

"Georges Vigarello has an extraordinary talent for telling stories while simultaneously providing us with highly original, broad narratives about change over time. In this new book, he changes the way we think about the power of exhaustion in our lives, demonstrating that what makes us tired, nervous and stressed is also what makes us human."
Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck College, University of London

"In A History of Fatigue, the dean of 'intimate' histories of the body gives 'burn out' a place beside his earlier studies of hygiene, beauty and obesity. Weariness and stress are essential to the human condition, but the particulars matter: the exhaustion of the peasant, the ennui of the poet, the worn-out worries of the modern single mom. From the Middle Ages to the 'post-industrial' era, Vigarello illuminates the evolution of fatigue: how it is imagined, how it feels and how it is repaired."
Steve Zdatny, University of Vermont

"In Vigarello's account, fatigue has become something of a modern-day obsession--yet the more 'visibility' it has, the more it can add to our stress and existential discomfort. The corollary of the 21st-century ideal of the autonomous individual who 'performs' at a high level is the alienated, mentally and physically exhausted individual who can contribute nothing."
Prospect

"captivating... an important study of an increasingly important topic."
Times Literary Supplement

"'A History of Fatigue'... is stoutly industrious and inquisitive, and, in the corralling of evidence, Vigarello shows such dedication that he should seriously consider moonlighting as a homicide detective."
The New Yorker