Ted Scheinman – författare

The son of a devoted Jane Austen scholar, Ted Scheinman spent his childhood summers eating Yorkshire pudding, singing in an Anglican choir, and watching Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy. Determined to leave his mother’s world behind, he nonetheless found himself in grad school organising the first ever UNC-Chapel Hill Jane Austen Summer Camp, a weekend-long event that sits somewhere between an academic conference and super fan extravaganza.While the long tradition of Austen devotees includes the likes of Henry James and E. M. Forster, it is at the conferences and reenactments where Janeism truly lives. In Camp Austen, Scheinman tells the story of his indoctrination into this enthusiastic world and his struggle to shake his mother’s influence while navigating hasty theatrical adaptations, undaunted scholars in cravats, and unseemly petticoat fittings.In a haze of morning crumpets and restrictive tights, Scheinman delivers a hilarious and poignant survey of one of the most enduring and passionate literary coteries in history. Combining clandestine journalism with frank memoir, academic savvy with insider knowledge, Camp Austen is perhaps the most comprehensive study of Austen that can also be read in a single sitting. Brimming with stockings, culinary etiquette, and scandalous dance partners, this is summer camp like you’ve never seen it before.

In the tradition of Susannah Cahalan's Brain on Fire and Hadley Freeman's Good Girls, this is an intimate, deeply researched story of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) by the celebrated Smithsonian editor, memoirist, and essayist. Before I can tell you about the shock treatment, I should tell you about the horse tranquilizer.Ted Scheinman struggled with depression his whole life, but never like this. At thirty-five years old, he'd tried nearly everything. As antidepressants, therapy and powerful sedatives like ketamine proved ineffective, his mental health continued to deteriorate, along with his relationships and any hope of a happy life. Only one medical option remained: electroconvulsive therapy.Like most people, Ted felt a shiver down his spine. ECT occupies a singular place in our cultural memory. For decades, many patients were famously subjected to it against their will - and even today, many associate it with horrifying images of convulsing bodies. But Ted had a bigger fear: if ECT didn't work, he might be lost forever. Jolt: My Electric Journey Out of Darkness follows Ted's descent into and emergence from major depression as he undergoes ECT. The electricity proved remarkably successful, but at great cost: ​Ted's memory began failing him, and he was now missing major episodes from his life. In order to understand the relationship between memory and mental health, he investigates the history of this most controversial of treatments - which he credits with saving his life, and which, he discovers, saves tens of thousands of lives each year. But if ECT is so effective, why do doctors only recommend it as a treatment of last resort? What emerges is both an inquest into the nature of mental health and a beautiful, funny, and philosophical memoir about what we're willing to sacrifice to have a chance at life.