THE ELEPHANT MAN: A Study in Human Dignity

by Ashley Montagu ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 1971

This time social science popularizer Montagu turns to the case history of Englishman John Merrick (the Elephant Man), an intelligent, mentally healthy individual whose physical abnormalities were so grotesque and repulsive (enormous misshapen head, mouth so warped that he couldn't whistle let alone laugh or sing, body covered with scabrous skin-growths, malformed limbs) that he was widely exhibited in Victorian England and on the Continent as a freak. What is remarkable, however, is that all of this did not embitter Merrick or turn him into a misanthrope, and Montagu centers his main attention on trying to find out why. After miring around in the old heredity-versus-environment debate for a while (during which he presents a highly suspect discussion of Merrick's ""genetic constitution""), Montagu speculates that ""Merrick received a considerable amount of love from his mother during the first three or four years of his life"" and that this must account for his basic stability. This is doubtless simplistic theory at best, but then Montagu is never too deep. The book is dressed up with appended source material, illustrations, footnotes, and includes a lengthy essay on the Elephant Man by Sir Frederick Treves, a London surgeon who originally publicized Merrick's case in the 1880's.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Outerbridge & Dienstfrey

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION