Still, reading this man's prose is a lesson in subjective reality, by turns funny and terrifying. From the start, Schreber struggled to make sense of what he was seeing and hearing, and in fact Memoirs is so lucid and self-aware, so internally consistent and insightful, that he was released on its strength. Within weeks he was committed, having rapidly descended into madness, and was placed under the care of Dr. Alas, the stress of his new job proved too much for him, and before long he was hearing voices and feeling suicidal. Schreber, second son (the first committed suicide) of an abusive father, was at the peak of a brilliant career in Leipzig when he was appointed Presiding Judge of the Saxon High Court of Appeals. Daniel Paul Schreber began Memoirs of my Nervous Illness in February 1900 while confined in an asylum, as part of an appeal for release.
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