Sometimes I find myself, in conversation, filling in a detail concerning an aspect of neurology. It might be the nature of colour blindness, or the clinical manifestations of synaesthesia, or the pain engendered by a misrepresentation of self. When I do this I'm occasionally, even often, right. And if I am, that's not a credit to me. It's a credit to Oliver Sacks, who studied these things, and understood their nature, and wrote about them, and revealed the burden of those who suffered.
He didn't write to show off. And he didn't write to educate. He wrote to entertain. I read all of his books, and I was most majestically entertained. So those things I learned, I learned without effort, because of all the writers I've ever read, Oliver Sacks is the easiest to read. The words are a window, and the view is grand.
Two years ago my daughter, Grace, was struck on the head by a rock. Her recovery entailed, amongst other things, overcoming neurological deficits that induced dyscalculia and anxiety. Her lovely teacher, Philippa Herron, patiently helped her through this most difficult time. Jemma, Grace's mum, suggested an Oliver Sacks book would be an appropriate gift to thank her. She was right; an Oliver Sacks book is always an opportune gift, but in this case it was most apropos. I prevailed on a mutual acquaintance to ask Mr Sacks if he would autograph a book. Although we were strangers, a delightfully dedicated copy of Awakenings arrived in the mail.
To thank him I responded with a copy of the Mona catalogue, Monanisms. And within it, I inscribed the following jingle:
I've read around
I must admit,
Cheats abound
Also in lit.
I did you wrong,
No leg to stand on.
I was hallucinating,
Now I'm awakening.
Although I roam
I'll come back,
And write a poem
To say, ‘Thanks
For each tome,
Doctor Sacks’.
The fellow who helped me out with the autograph, Lawrence Weschler, eulogised Doctor Sacks to the Wall Street Journal thus: he ‘conducted a master class in how to die, after having conducted a master class in how to live’.
Oliver Sacks showed the humanity of literature. And the humanity of science. And the humanity of humanity.
Maxine Barry | September 2, 2015 at 08:25 pm
To Dr Sacks, people with unusual conditions were human first and always. Not 'interesting cases', or 'patients', but people with whom he related as another human. To me it's the literature of humanity.