Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky, Russian Writer (1823 - 1881)
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky is without doubt the most well-known of all famous people who had epilepsy. Dostoyevsky's illness is a known fact to many people who otherwise have no knowledge of epilepsy, and indeed, for many people, reading Dostoyevsky's works is the first intensive contact that they have with a person with epilepsy.
More than anyone else, Dostoyevsky used his own illness and the suffering that went with it as a theme in his writing. The writer made many people in his stories and novels have epilepsy. The most well-known figure is Prince Myshkin in the novel 'The Idiot'. This character also reveals most about Dostoyevsky's own illness.
More than anyone else, Dostoyevsky used his own illness and the suffering that went with it as a theme in his writing. The writer made many people in his stories and novels have epilepsy. The most well-known figure is Prince Myshkin in the novel 'The Idiot'. This character also reveals most about Dostoyevsky's own illness.
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We can take it as read that the many accounts of epileptic seizures which Dostoyevsky gives in his works - the crescendo-like onset of the seizures, their overwhelming symptoms, the dramatic effects which the seizures have on the people around the person with epilepsy - are based on the writer's own experience.