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The Wild Boy of Burundi: A study of an outcast child

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This book tells the story of how an urban myth played out in the hands of the two writers. A 1976 Johannesburg Times article about a Burundian boy raised by a band of monkeys fell into the hands of Harlan Lanes. Lane was recognized as an expert on feral children, having recently published a book on Victor of Aveyron, the well-documented feral child of nineteenth century France. When writing about Victor, Lane had naturally had to rely exclusively on the incomplete written records of the time. Given what he could discover from the written records, Lane speculated that Victor was not autistic, as some people claimed, and that his persistent communication and social disturbances had more likely come from a different source. As presented here, the story of a modern boy raised by animals in the wild was an opportunity for a potentially fascinating and awe-inspiring research project for Lane.

The book flips between a travel memoir and an ordinary prose discussion written for general audiences about the scientific research on feral children. As travel memoir, it also flips between the two authors, Lane and Pillard. About the first third of the book describes in detail the preparations for their expedition to Burundi, leaving some readers wondering when they will actually get on with the trip. However, as the book progresses, and it gradually becomes clear that the story is a hoax, and that the boy in question is an ordinary developmentally disabled boy who probably is autistic and had spent almost of all of his life in orphanages, we begin to see that there almost wouldn't be a story at all if the authors hadn't written so extensively about their preparations. After the stories of the pre-trip press conferences and talk show appearances, it almost seems as if the authors had to write the book. Whether the book was written to justify their expenditures and publicity, to satisfy a prior book contract, or to give the public closure to the tale, it's hard to judge at this point, some 25 years later.

What does this book offer us today? As a book for general readers on feral children, it's rather limited, especially since it doesn't contain citations to other work or a bibliography. Perhaps it's greatest value is the honest tale it tells of academics who were originally taken by an urban myth.

Harlan Lane is a psychologist and the author of a scientific study of the 'wild boy of Aveyron,' the most famous case of a genuine feral child. In 1974 a child was discovered in Burundi, apparently living with monkeys. Lane traveled to Africa with psychiatrist Richard Pillard to study the boy, and this book is his account of his findings and attempt to reach a correct diagnosis.