Representing autism : culture, narrative, fascination / Stuart Murray.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murray, Stuart, 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Autism.

Autism in literature.

Physical Description:

xviii, 236 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, [2008]

Summary:

We are frequently told that we live during an 'autism epidemic', with a seemingly exponential increase in diagnoses and yet no further idea of any cause or workable treatment. Increasingly, autism functions as a condition that holds a clear fascination for many people in the contemporary moment, one linked to ideas of technology, crime, diet and environment, and one which also raises issues connected to children, parenting and the family. Representing Autism explores the ways in which autism is depicted in a number of different cultural narratives, from literary fiction, photography and commercial cinema, to the coverage of the vaccination scares and the productions of the multiple online communities in which the condition is discussed. The first book to examine such representations in detail, it looks at contemporary texts and narratives - from Rain Man to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - while also analysing stories that date from before the condition was identified medically in the 1940s in order to chart autism as a condition that has always been part of the human record. Stuart Murray investigates the ideas of individual and community produced by people with autism, both in print and online, to establish a concept of autistic presence that emerges from within a space of cognitive exceptionality. At heart, this book asserts the need to understand and respect the difference that is inherent in autism because of the ways in which it extends our experience of what it means to be human.

Contents:

Preface: questions xiii

Introduction: autism and narrative 1

1 Presences: autistic difference 27

2 Idiots and savants 65

3 Witnessing 104

4 Boys and girls, men and women 139

5 In our time: families and sentiments 168

Conclusion: causing/curing/caring 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-223) and index.

ISBN:

9781846310911

1846310911

9781846310928

184631092X

OCLC:

177983102