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Re: Asperger's -- make it stop!
Title: Re: Asperger's -- make it
stop!
At 8:36 AM -0400 5/3/01,
Elmer Elevator wrote:
Compare the stature and lasting achievements of those
pointing the Asperger's finger at GG with Gould's own stature and
enduring achievements. Small wonder such "experts" want to
drag him down to their miniscule size. They already know they're
doomed to obscurity, if not oblivion. And Gould will grow in fame and
admiration forever.
This is not an argument. In fact, your entire post is
devoid of any argument that GG did not have it. You just seem
insulted that someone might argue that he had any sort of deficiency;
it's almost defensive.
In the field of psychology, there are many branches. Some
study the chemistry of illnesses, some do clinical work, etc..
There is a growing branch of historical psychology that looks at past
figures and analyses them based on what they know from memoirs,
biographies, handwriting samples, and so on. This study is not
necessarily for the benefit of furthering knowledge of psychology,
but gives people insight into the minds of great figures from the
past. In fact, amongst musicians/composers, among those who
have been canonized as "great" there is a phenomenal array
of mental illnesses which are manifestly obvious even from the
layperson's standpoint (take Mozart or Schumann as the most obvious
examples).
I was surprised and disappointed that I was the only person this
past November to attend the giant joint conference held in
Toronto. I was there primarily as a member of the American
Musicological Society, but the Canadian Society of Music Libraries,
Archives and Documentation Centres met as well. Mr Conway
mentioned the work of Timothy Maloney; well, his work has come to
fruition and he presented a paper called "Glenn Gould: Eccentric
or Autistic?" on 4 November at this meeting. It was an
hour and a half presentation with all of the arguments for and
against it (and it was the short version, by his account).
I went to the meeting fully prepared to argue against the label
of autism - indeed by modern standards it seems pejorative - but his
comprehensive/meticulous attention to detail left little
argument. In clearly defining and clarifying the crucial
differences between "mainstream autism" and Asperger's, the
diagnosis seems increasingly accurate. And, by taking the basic
indicators from the two main forms of diagnosis and comparing them to
the historical evidence we have from the many biographies (including
Ostwald's, with which he has many problems), he cites countless (and
I mean that) examples of how GG fits into just about every
criterion.
Before anyone criticizes the possibility that GG did in fact
have a mild Asperger autism, I suggest you educate yourselves to
exactly what it is. One of the criteria is NOT "capuccino
(sic) obsession" and such sarcastic comments only hampers the
promotion of understanding.
At 8:36 AM -0400 5/3/01, Elmer Elevator wrote:
This is all about conformity. In GG's posthumous case, it's
ghoulish. GG wasn't sick. Efforts to portray him as sick are
sick.
Having a mental condition should be no more embarrassing than
having a physical one; there is no violation of "the respect for
the memory of someone" to say that they had a stroke, why should
it be that way with another form of illness, mental or not.
It's not like someone is making the claim that he was a
child-molester. I think that people who are
"insulted" by this diagnosis have a sad perspective on what
many mental illnesses are -- simply an illness, just like diabetes or
muscular dystrophy. Anyone who thinks GG had NO mental illness
is delusional as is clear from his abuse of prescription drugs for
physical illnesses he thought he had. In fact, this is
explained very neatly by Asperger's, but you will have to read the
paper in order to find out more.
In any event, I encourage anyone who cares to broaden their
understanding of GG (perhaps at the expense of "destroying"
your image of "the perfect genius") to contact Mr Maloney
at the National Libary of Canada and read the ENTIRE manuscript of
his paper. You will find that the evidence for a positive
diagnosis is very persuasive. And, if you are really into
psychology, you may find holes in his argument that I did not see,
which would be of interest to Mr Maloney, who is an opened-minded
fellow.
I find it amazing that in a list of people who care what kind of
arrowroot biscuits GG ate to be of absolutely pinnacle importance
that helpful, specific medical information would be shunned.
Finally, it may come as some surprise to people that there are
MANY people in the Western world who have not heard of GG.
Comparing his fame to that of psychologists is absolutely
preposterous. There are people who haven't heard of Elaine
Pagels, but her research has been revolutionary in the world of
religious studies, and there are people who don't know the names
"Christoph Wolff" or "Joshua Rifkin" even though
their research has contributed to the world of musicology in more
fields than I can list comfortably. Historical figures?
Louis Pasteur? Rosa Parks? C'mon - most people don't know a lot
about a lot, so when we make comments like the following, we only
reveal our own lacunae in our knowledge:
At 8:36 AM -0400 5/3/01, Elmer Elevator wrote:
Again I would remind people of the notorious trendiness of
psychology and psychiatry. Will Asperger's make the time cut? Will
anyone even remember it twenty years from now, except as an
embarrassing footnote?
I might add that there are just as many "trends" in
music. Once upon a time Meyerbeer and Telemann were the rage,
but do we hear them a lot now? Let's be more civil and
objective about the research that other people do. And, before
we criticize it, let us first read, assimilate, and inwardly digest
it before making passionate outcries of indignity and
indecency. Sheesh. I am,
Respectfully yours,
Nemesio Valle, III
--
Nemesio Valle, III
University of Pittsburgh
Duquesne University
Address: 5802
Callowhill Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Phone:
412-365-0340
Email:
nevst3@pitt.edu
"The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection
of adrenaline but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a
state of wonder and serenity."
Glenn Gould
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn
something from
him."
Galileo Galilei
"Specialization is for insects."
Lazarus Long
"Competitions are for horses, not artists."
Bela Bartok
"Understanding is both the first principle and the source of
good sound writing."
Horace