Wickett's Remedy

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Wickett's Remedy is a 2005 historical novel [1] by Myla Goldberg, about the 1918 influenza epidemic. It was published by Doubleday.

Contents

The novel makes heavy use of annotations, marginalia, and false documents to support its premise; [2] Goldberg has stated that Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire was a major influence on her in this respect. [3]

Plot

In 1918 Boston, Lydia Kilkenny is a sales clerk who marries medical student Henry Wickett. When Henry, and most of her relatives, die of the "Spanish flu", Lydia becomes a nurse, and works to help find a cure by assisting in medical experiments on convicted Navy deserters. She also continues to sell Henry's patent medicine (the Remedy of the title) [4] until Henry's business partner repackages it as a soft drink. [5]

Reception

In the New York Times , Andrea Barrett described it as "ambitious", "thoroughly researched", and "admirable", with "a set of nightmarish, wonderfully well-written chapters that would have made a strong short novel all on their own", but felt that it was a "somewhat uneasy mixture" of emotional fiction and historical fact; as well, Barrett considered that the novel's sheer scope and "kaleidoscopic narrative" worked to its detriment. [4] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette felt it was "too ambitious", but a "heartening example of ... risk-taking" on Goldberg's part, emphasizing that the novel was nonetheless "very readable", and that Goldberg had included "powerful imagery, succinct prose and unabashed sensitivity". [6]

The Seattle Times considered the book "well-researched" but "somewhat elusive and not entirely satisfying", comparing it unfavorably to Goldberg's earlier work Bee Season . [7] Salon described it as "historically credible," and stated that "the real reason to read" the novel is "the chance to spend a few hours" with Lydia. [5]

Related Research Articles

Pandemic Global epidemic of infectious disease

A pandemic is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. Widespread endemic diseases with a stable number of infected people such as recurrences of seasonal influenza are generally excluded as they occur simultaneously in large regions of the globe rather than being spread worldwide.

Spanish flu 1918–1920 pandemic of H1N1 influenza A virus

The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. Lasting from February 1918 to April 1920, it infected 500 million people – about a third of the world's population at the time – in four successive waves. The death toll is typically estimated to have been somewhere between 17 million and 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.

Hong Kong flu

The Hong Kong flu, also known as the 1968 flu pandemic, was a flu pandemic whose outbreak in 1968 and 1969 killed an estimated 1–4 million people globally. It was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus, which is descended from H2N2 through antigenic shift, a genetic process in which genes from multiple subtypes are reassorted to form a new virus.

Swine influenza Infection caused by influenza viruses endemic to pigs

Swine influenza is an infection caused by any one of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As of 2009, the known SIV strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H2N1, H3N1, H3N2, and H2N3.

Myla Goldberg American novelist

Myla Goldberg is an American novelist and musician.

Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 Subtype of the influenza A virus

In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of Influenza A virus. Well known outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the 2009 swine flu pandemic, as well as the 1918 flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus that contains the glycoproteins haemagglutinin and neuraminidase. For this reason, they are described as H1N1, H1N2 etc. depending on the type of H or N antigens they express with metabolic synergy. Hemagglutinin causes red blood cells to clump together and binds the virus to the infected cell. Neuraminidase is a type of glycoside hydrolase enzyme which helps to move the virus particles through the infected cell and assist in budding from the host cells.

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Jeffery K. Taubenberger is an American virologist. With Ann Reid, he was the first to sequence the genome of the influenza virus which caused the 1918 pandemic of Spanish flu. He is Chief of the Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.Taubenberger's laboratory studies a number of viruses, including influenza A viruses (IAVs), which are the pathogens that cause yearly flu epidemics and have caused periodic pandemics, such as the 1968 outbreak that killed an estimated one million people. His research aims to inform public health strategies on several important aspects of flu: seasonal flu; avian flu, which circulates among birds and has infected humans in the past; swine flu, which circulates among pigs and has infected humans in the past; and pandemic flu, which can arise from numerous sources and spread quickly because humans have little to no immunity to it.

Influenza Infectious disease, "the flu"

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2009 swine flu pandemic 2009 global H1N1 influenza virus pandemic

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Howard Markel

Howard Markel is an American physician and medical historian. Markel is the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and Director of the University of Michigan's Center for the History of Medicine. He is also professor of Psychiatry, Health Management and Policy, History, and Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases. Markel writes extensively on major topics and figures in the history of medicine and public health.

1889–1890 pandemic

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1918 flu pandemic in India was the outbreak of an unusually deadly influenza pandemic in India between 1918-1920 as a part of the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic. Also referred to as the Bombay Influenza or the Bombay Fever in India, the pandemic is believed to have killed up to 17 - 18 million people in the country, the most among all countries. David Arnold (2019) estimates at least 12 million dead, about 5% of the population. The decade between 1911 and 1921 was the only census period in which India’s population fell, mostly due to devastation of the Spanish flu pandemic. The death toll in India's British-ruled districts was 13.88 million.

References

  1. Porras-Gallo, Maria; Davis, Ryan A. (2014-11-15). "Chapter 13: Remembering and Reconstructing: Fictions of the 1918–19 Influenza Pandemic". The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919: Perspectives from the Iberian Peninsula and the Americas. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN   9781580464963.
  2. "'Wickett's Remedy' Rooted in Drama of Flu Epidemic". All Things Considered . National Public Radio. September 28, 2005. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  3. Minzesheimer, Bob (September 21, 2005). "Myla Goldberg is back, and completely different". USA Today . New York. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Barrett, Andrea (September 18, 2005). "'Wickett's Remedy': Flu Season". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Boudway, Ira (October 1, 2005). ""Wickett's Remedy" by Myla Goldberg". Salon . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  6. Jolis, Anne (October 2, 2005). "Goldberg reaches for 'Remedy' -- and overreaches". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  7. Ryan, Valerie (September 30, 2005). ""Wickett's Remedy": Finding purpose in midst of 1918 flu epidemic". Seattle Times . Retrieved August 8, 2015.