linguophilia

02/15/11 09:09

Oliver Sacks' The Mind's Eye is, as the title suggests, about how we see and perceive the world around us. It contains the usual collection of unusual cases, like the accomplished pianist who can no longer distinguish letters (though she can still write letters - "alexia sine agraphia") and the woman who, after years of stereo blindness, suddenly sees the world in three dimensions.

The author inserts himself into this collection when he develops cancer in one eye and describes the experience of a suddenly limited world view. He notes that, with his loss of stereo vision, he lost his fear of heights.

The book ends, inexorably, with stories about the blind and how they cope. One woman explains that she loves traveling. Her traveling companions describe the landscapes or cityscapes for her. (I thought of that wonderful scene in Amelia, when our heroine takes the blind man by the arm and leads him down a street in Paris). "Sighted people enjoy traveling with me," she is quoted as saying. "I ask them questions, then they look and see things they wouldn't otherwise. Too often people with sight don't see anything!"

Sacks concludes: "Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person's eyes."

I'm going to read that to my travel writing class tonight.

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