Blindness in literature
Encyclopedia
Different cultures through history have depicted blindness
in a variety of ways; among the Greeks
, for example, it was a punishment from the gods, for which the afflicted individual was often granted compensation in the form of artistic genius. Judeo-Christian
literature
positioned blindness as a flaw; only through a cure could God’s love be made manifest, when the scales would fall away from the eyes of an afflicted individual upon contact with a holy man or relic. Almost without exception in early literature, blind people could bring this condition down upon themselves through sin or trespasses against the gods, but were never the sole instruments of its reversal.
Even pioneers in training the blind, such as Dorothy Harrison Eustis
, harboured negative stereotypes about them. Blind people had, in her opinion, grown so accustomed to waiting on others as to be passive and 'whiney.'
Father Thomas Carroll, who founded the Carroll Centre for the Blind, wrote Blindness: What It Is, What It Does and How to Live with It in 1961. In it, he characterized blindness in terms of 20 losses, and as the ‘death’ of the sighted individual.
In "Moumoku Monogatari" Junichiro Tanizaki
retells the well-known tale of Oda Nobunaga
and Toyotomi Hideyoshi
from the perspective of a blind servant. The character is portrayed as demonstrating a number of traditional Japanese virtues, but ultimately falls prey to his own human flaws.
"The Country of the Blind
", a short story by H. G. Wells
, is one of the most well-known stories featuring sightless characters. A sighted man finds himself in a country that has been isolated from the rest of the world for centuries, wherein all the inhabitants are blind even as their ancestors had been. These people are depicted as self-sufficient, having developed their other senses, but they are ultimately closed-minded and insular to the point of xenophobia
. As they themselves have no sight, they wish to deprive the traveler of his own eyes in this allegorical tale of stagnation.
, the creation of autobiographical materials, or materials specific to blindness, is relatively new.
Most people are familiar with Helen Keller
, who was both blind and deaf, but there has been considerable progress since the publication of her work.
:Category:Blindness organizations
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
in a variety of ways; among the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, for example, it was a punishment from the gods, for which the afflicted individual was often granted compensation in the form of artistic genius. Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
positioned blindness as a flaw; only through a cure could God’s love be made manifest, when the scales would fall away from the eyes of an afflicted individual upon contact with a holy man or relic. Almost without exception in early literature, blind people could bring this condition down upon themselves through sin or trespasses against the gods, but were never the sole instruments of its reversal.
Blind people in literature written by visually able authors
It is impossible to make a blanket generalization about how the blind were treated in literature beyond that point - they were marvelous, gifted, evil, malicious, ignorant, wise, helpless, innocent, or burdensome depending upon who wrote the story - except to say that blindness is perceived to be such a loss that it leaves an indelible mark on a person’s character.Even pioneers in training the blind, such as Dorothy Harrison Eustis
Dorothy Harrison Eustis
Dorothy Leib Harrison Wood Eustis was an American dog breeder and philanthropist, who founded The Seeing Eye, the first guide-dog school for the blind in the United States....
, harboured negative stereotypes about them. Blind people had, in her opinion, grown so accustomed to waiting on others as to be passive and 'whiney.'
Father Thomas Carroll, who founded the Carroll Centre for the Blind, wrote Blindness: What It Is, What It Does and How to Live with It in 1961. In it, he characterized blindness in terms of 20 losses, and as the ‘death’ of the sighted individual.
In "Moumoku Monogatari" Junichiro Tanizaki
Junichiro Tanizaki
was a Japanese author, one of the major writers of modern Japanese literature, and perhaps the most popular Japanese novelist after Natsume Sōseki. Some of his works present a rather shocking world of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions; others, less sensational, subtly portray the dynamics...
retells the well-known tale of Oda Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga
was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...
and Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
from the perspective of a blind servant. The character is portrayed as demonstrating a number of traditional Japanese virtues, but ultimately falls prey to his own human flaws.
"The Country of the Blind
The Country of the Blind
"The Country of the Blind" is a short story written by H. G. Wells. It was first published in the April 1904 issue of the Strand Magazine and included in a 1911 collection of Wells's short stories, The Country of the Blind and Other Stories...
", a short story by H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
, is one of the most well-known stories featuring sightless characters. A sighted man finds himself in a country that has been isolated from the rest of the world for centuries, wherein all the inhabitants are blind even as their ancestors had been. These people are depicted as self-sufficient, having developed their other senses, but they are ultimately closed-minded and insular to the point of xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
. As they themselves have no sight, they wish to deprive the traveler of his own eyes in this allegorical tale of stagnation.
Literature by blind people
While blind and visually impaired people had contributed to the body of common literature for centuries, one notable example being the author of Paradise Lost, John MiltonJohn Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, the creation of autobiographical materials, or materials specific to blindness, is relatively new.
Most people are familiar with Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
, who was both blind and deaf, but there has been considerable progress since the publication of her work.
- Blind author Tom SullivanTom Sullivan (singer)Tom Sullivan is an American performer, author, and motivational speaker.-Personal life:Sullivan was born and raised in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, the son of Marie C. and Thomas J. Sullivan, who owned a saloon. His premature birth caused him to need oxygen treatment while in an incubator...
has written several inspirational books, including If You Could See What I Hear, about his life and accomplishments. - Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Luis BorgesJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, who suffered from a congenital condition that caused him to become blind by middle age, discussed his condition in many autobiographical and semi-autobiographical works. - Stephen Kuusisto wrote about his experiences as a visually impaired person in Planet of the Blind, and his upcoming memoir, Eavesdropping: A Life By Ear.
- John Hull, a university lecturer, wrote about going blind in Touching the Rock: An Experience of Blindness.
- Georgina Kleege, visually impaired since age 11, wrote about her life and how it was affected by cultural perceptions of blindness in Sight Unseen.
- Sally Hobart AlexanderSally Hobart AlexanderSally Hobart Alexander is an American writer of children's literature. She is best known for her books about her experiences as a blind person....
became blind when she was about 25 and a schoolteacher, during the 1970s, because of an eye disease. She wrote at least three autobiographical books about adapting to blindness. - French author Jacques LusseyranJacques LusseyranJacques Lusseyran was a blind French author and political activist.Lusseyran was born on September 19th, 1924, in Paris, France. He became totally blind in a school accident at the age of 8. He soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships, particularly with one boy...
, who was visually impaired at the age of 7 when he injured his eyes on the sharp corner of a teacher's desk, became part of the French resistance during World War II. He spent a year in concentration camps, surviving the experience and writing several books. "And There Was Light" chronicles his experiences from early childhood until his liberation from a concentration camp.
See also
- On His BlindnessOn His BlindnessOn His Blindness is one of the best known of the sonnets of John Milton. It may have been written as early as 1652, although most scholars believe it was composed sometime between June and October of 1655, when Milton's blindness was essentially complete....
by John MiltonJohn MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell... - Blindness and educationBlindness and educationThe subject of blindness and education has included evolving approaches and public perceptions of how best to address the special needs of blind students...
:Category:Blindness organizations
- Nico (also known as Nicholas)Nico (TV series)Nico was a 2001 Spanish animated television series produced by BRB Internacional and the National Organization of the Spanish Blind about the title character, Nico; a boy that is blind...
, a TV series for educating children about blind people (considering television a sort of literature) - Thérèse-Adèle HussonThérèse-Adèle HussonBorn into an upper-middle class family in 1803, Thérèse-Adèle Husson was a French writer in the post-Revolutionary period. At the age of nine months, she became blind as a result of smallpox, but this did not stop her from writing more than a dozen children's novels...