---
title: "Prisoners, Patients and Performers"
date: 2022-02-24T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/prisoners-patients-and-performers"
section: Articles
---
# Prisoners, Patients and Performers

*February 24, 2022* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> UMD Professor’s New Book Imagines Lives of 19th-Century Women Confined in Paris Hospital

*Cityof Incurable Women 1920x1080 — In her new book, "City of Incurable Women," UMD English Professor Maud Casey imagines the lives of real 19th century women who were confined—and put on display—in a Paris hospital, pictured at left, after receiving a diagnosis of hysteria. Casey wondered, "Who are these mysterious selves of these girls and women?"*

For a certain set of elite 19<sup>th</sup>-century Parisians, the “hysterical” women of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital weren’t simply unwell people in need of treatment: They were a source of lurid entertainment.

Diagnosed with the catch-all term for women behaving outside expected social norms, they were held at the still-functioning hospital, where, under the supervision of famed physician Jean-Martin Charcot, they had seizures or auditory hallucinations—whether authentic or exaggerated for show—in front of a titillated crowd.


*Maud Casey headshot*




**Topics:** [Arts &amp; Culture](https://today.umd.edu/tags/arts-culture)


**Tags:** [Books](https://today.umd.edu/topic/books), [English](https://today.umd.edu/topic/english)


**Units:** [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)