在线阅读本书
Book Description
An American classic rediscovered by each generation, The Story
of My Life is Helen Keller’s account of her triumph over
deafness and blindness. Popularized by the stage play and movie The
Miracle Worker, Keller’s story has become a symbol of hope for
people all over the world.
This book–published when Keller was only twenty-two–portrays the
wild child who is locked in the dark and silent prison of her own
body. With an extraordinary immediacy, Keller reveals her
frustrations and rage, and takes the reader on the unforgettable
journey of her education and breakthroughs into the world of
communication. From the moment Keller recognizes the word “water”
when her teacher finger-spells the letters, we share her triumph as
“that living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set
it free!” An unparalleled chronicle of courage, The Story of My
Life remains startlingly fresh and vital more than a century
after its first publication, a timeless testament to an indomitable
will.
Amazon.com
Helen Keller would not be bound by conditions. Rendered deaf and
blind at 19 months by scarlet fever, she learned to read (in
several languages) and even speak, eventually graduating with
honors from Radcliffe College in 1904, where as a student she wrote
The Story of My Life. That she accomplished all of this in an age
when few women attended college and the disabled were often
relegated to the background, spoken of only in hushed tones, is
remarkable. But Keller's many other achievements are impressive by
any standard: she authored 13 books, wrote countless articles, and
devoted her life to social reform. An active and effective
suffragist, pacifist, and socialist (the latter association earned
her an FBI file), she lectured on behalf of disabled people
everywhere. She also helped start several foundations that continue
to improve the lives of the deaf and blind around the world.
As a young girl Keller was obstinate, prone to fits of violence,
and seething with rage at her inability to express herself. But at
the age of 7 this wild child was transformed when, at the urging of
Alexander Graham Bell, Anne Sullivan became her teacher, an event
she declares "the most important day I remember in all my life."
(Sullivan herself had once been blind, but partially recovered her
sight after a series of operations.) In a memorable passage, Keller
writes of the day "Teacher" led her to a stream and repeatedly
spelled out the letters w-a-t-e-r on one of her hands while pouring
water over the other. This method proved a revelation: "That living
world awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!
There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in
time be swept away." And, indeed, most of them were.
In her lovingly crafted and deeply perceptive autobiography,
Keller's joyous spirit is most vividly expressed in her connection
to nature:
Indeed, everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom, had
a part in my education.... Few know what joy it is to feel the
roses pressing softly into the hand, or the beautiful motion of the
lilies as they sway in the morning breeze. Sometimes I caught an
insect in the flower I was plucking, and I felt the faint noise of
a pair of wings rubbed together in a sudden terror....
The idea of feeling rather than hearing a sound, or of admiring a
flower's motion rather than its color, evokes a strong visceral
sensation in the reader, giving The Story of My Life a subtle power
and beauty. Keller's celebration of discovery becomes our own. In
the end, this blind and deaf woman succeeds in sharpening our eyes
and ears to the beauty of the world.
--Shawn Carkonen
The New York Times Book Review
The scientific interest of the process is great, both in itself and
for the light it throws on the unconscious and unobserved processes
by which children with all their senses learn the same things that
have been laboriously acquired by this girl ...
From Library Journal
More than a 100th-anniversary reprint, this book was reedited by
literary scholar Roger Shattuck and Keller biographer Dorothy
Hermann to include excised material.
Book Dimension :
length: (cm)17.4 width:(cm)10.5
|
内容加载中，请稍后...
商品评论（0条）