The experiences of the medieval acedia and the modern schizophrenia present some resemblances in their symptoms. The literature of the twentieth century offers figures of schizophrenic whose representation includes traditional patterns of the acedia : isolation, boredom, detachment, visions... The study of the nature of the disorder of female characters in works of the sixties by Marguerite Duras (France), Janet Frame (New Zealand), Sylvia Plath (United States of America) or Jennifer Dawson (Great‐Britain) reveals the legacy of the acedia in the imagination of contemporary writers. Moreover, it questions the psychopathological conception of schizophrenia and reveals its moral, spiritual and social aspects.
