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The True History Of The Elephant Man

By (author) Ford Ford
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Allison & Busby, London, United Kingdom
Published: 10th Jul 2001
Dimensions: w 135mm h 200mm d 22mm
Weight: 265g
ISBN-10: 0749005165
ISBN-13: 9780749005160
Barcode No: 9780749005160
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Synopsis
Through horrible physical deformities which were almost impossible to describe, Joseph Carey Merrick spent much of his life exhibited as a fairground freak until even 19th century sensibilities could take no more. Hounded, persecuted and starving, he ended up one day at Liverpool Street Station where he was rescued, housed and fed by the distinguished surgeon Frederick Treves. To Treve's surprise, he discovered during the course of their friendship that lurking beneath the mass of Merrick's corrupting flesh lived a spirit that was as courageous as it had been tortured, and a nature as gentle and dignified as it had been deprived and tormented. This is a moving story of a tragic individual and his survival against overwhelming odds in Victorian England.

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Newspapers & Magazines
"'The authors have come up with a good deal of fresh evidence, both medical and sociological... To Howell and Ford, Merrick appeared a saintly figure. There is no reason to believe that judgement is wrong.' The Times 'Brilliantly researched' Sunday Telegraph 'A story to strike pity and terror into any heart.' Times Literary Supplement"
Kirkus US
The strange saga - basis of the Broadway play - of one of the most deformed of all men and the Victorian society that first exploited, then succored him. Howell and Ford tell the story straight, with only an occasional dramatic flourish and without attempting to draw out a moral. (They do note that "Like the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. . . the emphasis may seem to shift subtly in time, as new social parables are read in or drawn out.") The simple story itself is compelling. Joseph Merrick's great deformity was said to have come from his pregnant mother's being frightened by a runaway circus elephant. By his teens his rare skin disease had so deformed his body that he would have spent his life in the Leicester Union Workhouse had he not been picked up as a freak for a traveling exhibition. During the showing in London one Frederick Treves, a promising young surgeon, first saw the "elephant man"; and it was to Treves that the elephant man turned after a nasty experience on the Continent. The surgeon arranged for Merrick to be cared for by London Hospital, and in an appeal for funds the hospital management stressed Merrick's high moral character. In Victorian society, as Howell and Ford note, "To be utterly deserving of charity it was essential to be utterly virtuous." Merrick, apparently, was, or nearly so. In any case, the highest of Victorian society responded: actress Madge Kendal and Princess Alexandra became friends of Merrick, visiting him in his hospital quarters and sending mementos and gifts. And many of the elephant man's dreams were granted: he saw a West End play from a private box, and spent a few days on a private estate communing with nature (and collecting violets). Howell and Ford marvel at such philanthropy, remarking "It is chastening to reflect on how society's attempt at the management of the acutely deprived and disabled in our own day would compare. . . ." Throughout, a strange and touching story. (Kirkus Reviews)