Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.
Better Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Planet of the Blind by Stephen Kuusisto  (20)
$11.20
|
Waist-High in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled by Nancy Mairs (6)
$12.00
|
Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening by Stephen Kuusisto (6)
$16.29
|
Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller by Georgina Kleege (2)
$15.56
|
On Sight and Insight: A Journey into the World of Blindness by John Hull  (2)
|
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this blend of memoir and pointed cultural criticism, novelist (Home for the Summer), essayist and translator Kleege describes how she has come to terms with being blind in a world that fears and stigmatizes blindness. In 1967, at the age of 11, she was diagnosed with macular degeneration, told there was no cure or hope of improvement and declared legally blind. So Kleege, who is able to discern some light, color, movement and form, learned to hide her impairment. In school, she memorized pages of text in anticipation of being asked to read aloud, and determined what school friends were seeing by their tone of voice. With erudition that only partially belies her fury, Kleege goes on to explore the cultural meanings of blindness, dismantling negative stereotypes about the blind, including those perpetuated by such Hollywood films as Wait Until Dark and The Paradine Case and novels such as Eden Close. She also contrasts her visual experiences with those of the fully sighted and explains how, as a writer for whom reading was central, she has developed workable reading techniques. Although she was discouraged from learning braille as a child because she had "too much sight," Kleege now considers it a useful and pleasurable supplement to recorded tapes and magnification devices. Although sometimes didactic, Kleege gives readers an enlightening look at life with marginal eyesight. Agent, Mildred Marmur. (Mar.) FYI: Readers interested in this title might also enjoy Planet of the Blind by Stephen Kuusisto.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Novelist and essayist Kleege sees less than ten percent of what a normally sighted person does. Her brooding "coming out narrative" consists of eight essays detailing the experiences of a legally blind person in a sighted world. Kleege first considers the negative cultural attitudes toward blindness and how the disability is depicted in films and literature. She describes in bruising detail how and what she is able to see and recalls the years that she and her disappointed parents (both artists) spent concealing her condition. In the final chapters, Kleege describes the methods she uses to read, including recorded books and Braille, a recently acquired skill that she feels has allowed her to accept her condition and "announce my blindness without apology." Although a sense of unfairness underpins this intense memoir, Kleege's skill at articulating her personal struggle does enable one to appreciate what a blind person "sees." Recommended for most libraries and anyone associated with the visually impaired.?Carol Ann McAllister, Coll. of William & Mary Lib., Williamsburg, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
In this blend of memoir and pointed cultural criticism, novelist (Home for the Summer), essayist and translator Kleege describes how she has come to terms with being blind in a world that fears and stigmatizes blindness. In 1967, at the age of 11, she was diagnosed with macular degeneration, told there was no cure or hope of improvement and declared legally blind. So Kleege, who is able to discern some light, color, movement and form, learned to hide her impairment. In school, she memorized pages of text in anticipation of being asked to read aloud, and determined what school friends were seeing by their tone of voice. With erudition that only partially belies her fury, Kleege goes on to explore the cultural meanings of blindness, dismantling negative stereotypes about the blind, including those perpetuated by such Hollywood films as Wait Until Dark and The Paradine Case and novels such as Eden Close. She also contrasts her visual experiences with those of the fully sighted and explains how, as a writer for whom reading was central, she has developed workable reading techniques. Although she was discouraged from learning braille as a child because she had "too much sight," Kleege now considers it a useful and pleasurable supplement to recorded tapes and magnification devices. Although sometimes didactic, Kleege gives readers an enlightening look at life with marginal eyesight. Agent, Mildred Marmur. (Mar.) FYI: Readers interested in this title might also enjoy Planet of the Blind by Stephen Kuusisto.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Novelist and essayist Kleege sees less than ten percent of what a normally sighted person does. Her brooding "coming out narrative" consists of eight essays detailing the experiences of a legally blind person in a sighted world. Kleege first considers the negative cultural attitudes toward blindness and how the disability is depicted in films and literature. She describes in bruising detail how and what she is able to see and recalls the years that she and her disappointed parents (both artists) spent concealing her condition. In the final chapters, Kleege describes the methods she uses to read, including recorded books and Braille, a recently acquired skill that she feels has allowed her to accept her condition and "announce my blindness without apology." Although a sense of unfairness underpins this intense memoir, Kleege's skill at articulating her personal struggle does enable one to appreciate what a blind person "sees." Recommended for most libraries and anyone associated with the visually impaired.?Carol Ann McAllister, Coll. of William & Mary Lib., Williamsburg, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
|
