Summer's review
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
by Mark Haddon
But I do think it romanticizes the disorder somewhat...but then what is literature for?
Yeah - I suppose romanticizing it is a slight bit better than painting Christopher as a poor tortured innocent.
I thought this article (http://iautistic.com/autism-my... was pretty interesting as a critique of Mark Haddon's use of the "autistic" voice - it's nice to see a human and literary face on the disorder, but there's also questions of authenticity and of how much an author can reasonably write from the point of view of a person whose life is utterly different from his.
Oh, thank you for referring me to that! My favorite part is:
"Autistic savants do not use logic, because it is too slow. They tap into the parallel processing power of the brain, often using the kinesthetic and visual processors of their brain. If I could rewrite this paragraph, perhaps it might read like this..."
...
I feel, Haddon's use of that voice was an artistic choice, not a scientific one. Whether it is somehow "representative" of autistic experience is much less relevant than whether it was authentically...i don't know...fascinating!!
People don't hold authors who write in NON autistic voices to the standard that their work should authentically represent all non autistic experience, so it is a kind of tokenization to assume that CIOTDITN should be an authority on autistic experience.
Anyway, that is a very cool blog, thanks for the referral.
Summer's review
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Summer's review
rating:
bookshelves:
2008,
i-will-lend-this-to-you,
novels
Here's what disturbed me about this book: the obsessions and rituals and hyper-logical stubbornness that characterize Christopher are a little enticing. I know, of course, that having severe developmental disorders wouldn't be at all nice, but still, there's something comforting in the idea of "knowing" how the day's going to be by observing what color cars go by, or being completely unable to conceal your actual feelings. I guess it's kind of an extension of that "freedom versus liberty" thing that's been in the back of my mind ever since Sideways Stores from Wayside School.
Nitpick: Why would Christopher be okay with a yellow dog?
Nitpick: Why would Christopher be okay with a yellow dog?
But I do think it romanticizes the disorder somewhat...but then what is literature for?
Yeah - I suppose romanticizing it is a slight bit better than painting Christopher as a poor tortured innocent.I thought this article (http://iautistic.com/autism-my... was pretty interesting as a critique of Mark Haddon's use of the "autistic" voice - it's nice to see a human and literary face on the disorder, but there's also questions of authenticity and of how much an author can reasonably write from the point of view of a person whose life is utterly different from his.
Oh, thank you for referring me to that! My favorite part is:"Autistic savants do not use logic, because it is too slow. They tap into the parallel processing power of the brain, often using the kinesthetic and visual processors of their brain. If I could rewrite this paragraph, perhaps it might read like this..."
...
I feel, Haddon's use of that voice was an artistic choice, not a scientific one. Whether it is somehow "representative" of autistic experience is much less relevant than whether it was authentically...i don't know...fascinating!!
People don't hold authors who write in NON autistic voices to the standard that their work should authentically represent all non autistic experience, so it is a kind of tokenization to assume that CIOTDITN should be an authority on autistic experience.
Anyway, that is a very cool blog, thanks for the referral.