[nabs-l] Research: Representation of blindness in literature

Greg Aikens gpaikens at gmail.com
Fri Apr 26 19:42:27 UTC 2013 

Perhaps some more controversial titles would include Blindness by portuguese author Jose Saramago.  This was turned into a film a few years ago and caused a stir in our community because the negative ways people behave and respond when a blindness epidemic hits.  I have not read the book but the film was quite disturbing.  

A classic from spanish literature is El Lazarillo de Tornes, the story of a young child who gets hired to lead a blind man around in early medieval Spain.  Again, not the most flattering portrayal of blind people.  I had to read it for a spanish lit class in college.  

I know these aren't Swedish or children's literature, but any survey of the topic might want to include negative examples as well as positive ones.  


On Apr 25, 2013, at 9:48 AM, "justin williams" <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> No, we're just not that cool.  Big ups to Baltimore.    
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of christopher
> nusbaum
> Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 9:34 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Research: Representation of blindness in literature
> 
> Yeah... do you have a book with blind characters that is set in your area?
> Grin!
> 
> Chris Nusbaum
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Apr 26, 2013, at 8:23 AM, justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Givingyourself a plug.  Nothing wrong witht that man.  Grin.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
>> christopher nusbaum
>> Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 7:00 AM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Research: Representation of blindness in 
>> literature
>> 
>> I would also recommend Blindsided by Prescilla Commings. Although this 
>> book is also modern and American, I very much enjoyed reading it and 
>> thought the author did a good job of portraying blind people in a way 
>> that didn't evoke the reader's pity. Granted, it talks about the 
>> struggles that Natalie (the main character) goes through while 
>> adjusting to her blindness, especially her anxiety and outright 
>> refusal to use her cane (at first.) I may have a little bias toward 
>> this book, since it is set at the Maryland School for the Blind just 
>> down the road from me in Baltimore. :) But even if it were not set 
>> here, I would still recommend it to all of you. BTW, the NFB and our 
>> national center are mentioned a few times in this book! If you would like
> to read it, Blindsided is available from Bookshare. Happy reading!!
>> 
>> Chris Nusbaum
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Apr 26, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Julie McGinnity <kaybaycar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> There is a book called Girl, Stolen by April Henry that is about a 
>>> blind girl who is kidnapped.  Jane Eyre is a good one in my opinion.
>>> But if you're looking for something a bit more about blind characters 
>>> adjusting to blindness you can always find Follow my Leader.  Blind 
>>> Sighted is another more recent one.  If you want something a little 
>>> more fantastical, there is a blind character in Libba Bray's new book 
>>> the Diviners.  There is also Beastly, which was made into a movie a 
>>> couple years ago.  But those are more modern and American(except for 
>>> Jane Eyre).  Even so, they might be interesting reads for you.
>>> 
>>> On 4/25/13, Joe <jsoro620 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Focus on the Family featured a blind character in their Adventures 
>>>> in Odyssey series. Not literature, strictly speaking, though the 
>>>> radio show did produce some films and book editions, I believe. 
>>>> Also, I forget the exact name of the book, but was it something like 
>>>> The Seeing Summer? It's about the girl who is kidnapped and held for 
>>>> ransom.--Joe
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Carrie 
>>>> Gilmer
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 3:54 PM
>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Research: Representation of blindness in 
>>>> literature
>>>> 
>>>> Hello-
>>>> Two of my best friends from college were international students from 
>>>> Sweden, over 25 years ago. we are still very close.  Asked them what 
>>>> they knew. they both said they can recall absolutely no blind 
>>>> character in lit anywhere from childhood or young adulthood, and 
>>>> both also had never seen a blind person until sometime after coming to
> U.S.
>> ...may be a difficult  or sparse topic.
>>>> best of luck
>>>> Carrie
>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>> 
>>>> On Apr 23, 2013, at 9:55 PM, Kaiti Shelton 
>>>> <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I don't know of anything specifically Swedish, but I've seen 
>>>>> several depictions of blindness depicted in English literature.  
>>>>> There is one book called, "Hannah," where a blind girl wants to go to
> school.
>>>>> She seems super dependent in there to me, but the book is also set 
>>>>> in the 19th century so back then that might have been more common.
>>>>> In the end she participates in some sort of harvesting contest to 
>>>>> try to raise money to buy a brailler, and when she can't fathom how 
>>>>> she's won she finds that the town kept putting their picked 
>>>>> fruits/vegitables in her basket instead of their own.  There is 
>>>>> also a book I've come across called, "From Charlie's Point of View, 
>>>>> although I haven't really read it.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 4/23/13, Leye-Shprintse <leyeshprintse at ymail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> BS"D
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Dear NABS,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I'm a blind student and it's time for me to start writing my thesis.
>>>>>> I've chosen to write about the representation of blindness in 
>>>>>> Swedish children's and youth literature. I wonder if you've some 
>>>>>> ideas where I can rasearch information to my thesis, do you know 
>>>>>> if someone else have written about this subject? I think it's a 
>>>>>> very important subject but since Swedish isn't a big language I 
>>>>>> can't find so much information here. I'm happy for all ideas you 
>>>>>> can give me! It feels so big to write a thesis so I'm a bit
> overwhelmed!
>>>>>> Forgive my bad English!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Kind regards,
>>>>>> Leye-Shprintse
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Envoyé de mon iPad
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>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> Kaiti
>>>>> 
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>>>>> gm
>>>>> ail.com
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Julie McG
>>> National Association of Guide dog Users board member,  National 
>>> Federation of the Blind performing arts division secretary, Missouri 
>>> Association of Guide dog Users President, and Guiding Eyes for the 
>>> Blind graduate 2008 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only 
>>> Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have 
>>> eternal life."
>>> John 3:16
>>> 
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