Jag tror att du kan leta efter Aldous Huxley s utopiska tema Island .
(Citat från sammandraget i Wikipediaartikel , eftersom min kopia är packad bort.)
Det finns betydande användning av meditation och hypnotism för smärtkontroll i arbetet:
when a local boy and girl notice him and take him for medical treatment to their grandfather, Dr. Robert MacPhail. Dr. Robert and a young man named Murugan Mailendra carry Farnaby to Robert's house for a surprisingly successful hypnotherapy session led by Susila, Robert's daughter-in-law and the mother of the two children.
och
Historien berättas huvudsakligen ur en manlig huvudperson-Farnaby, men innehåller betydande sträckor där han interagerar med en kvinnlig karaktär, antingen i en eller en liten grupp.Dr. Robert recounts the island's history, including how his own Scottish grandfather, Dr. Andrew MacPhail, was called to the island over a century ago to treat the Old Raja's facial tumour using both trance-based mesmerization and actual surgery; this first brought scientific practices and the English language into Palanese culture.
Farnaby begins to establish a strong bond with Susila, who directs Farnaby to re-explore his own troubled past, including the death of his wife, Molly, on the night he confessed to cheating on her and his whole hateful childhood; Susila guides him through his painful memories. In the meantime, Susila's mother-in-law and Dr. Robert's wife, Lakshmi, is now also dying, due to cancer. One night, when the Rani urgently sends a letter to Farnaby to meet with her, he decides to finally take a stand against the exploitation of the island by Aldehyde and Dipa, and so he ignores her letter, instead going to visit the quickly-fading Lakshmi who, surrounded by her family, finally dies.
Individerna i den eponymiska landmassan utövar en variant av buddhismen informerad av en text som skrivits för några generationer sedan och ökar vetenskapliga metoder i deras befintliga andlighet.
As he recuperates, Farnaby reads Dr. Robert's copy of the Old Raja's Notes on What's What, and What It Might be Reasonable to do about What's What, which outlines Palanese practical philosophies for self-improvement and self-actualisation. He then tours the island's educational system, which merges the sciences, the arts, and self-control techniques with the personal search for spiritual self-fulfillment.
Även om arbetet i allmänhet kallas en roman är det ganska kort som kan beskrivas bättre som en novella eller till och med en roman, och det är inte otroligt att det skulle kunna ingå i en stor antologi.
Trots det publiceringsdatum på 1960-talet har arbetet en överraskande uppdaterad känsla i många avseenden.