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Large print book

The country of the blind : a memoir at the end of sight

Call Number

  • LARGE TYPE 921 L537 (CEN, EAS, OSH, WSQ)

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Edition

First large print edition.

Publication Information

[New York] : Random House Large Print, [2023]

Physical Description

xxviii, 428 pages (large print) ; 24 cm

Summary

"We meet Andrew Leland as he's suspended in the strange liminal state of the soon-to-be blind: He's midway through his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that ushers those who live with it from complete sightedness to complete blindness over a period of years, even decades. He grew up with full vision, but starting in his teenage years, his sight began to degrade from the outside in, such that he now sees the world as if through a narrow tube. Soon--but without knowing exactly when--he will likely have no vision left. Full of apprehension but also dogged curiosity, Leland embarks on a sweeping exploration of the state of being that awaits him: not only the physical experience of blindness but also its language, internal debates, politics, and customs. He also negotiates his changing relationships with his wife and son, and with his own sense of self, as he moves from sighted to semi-sighted to blind, from his mainstream, "typical" life to one with a disability. Part memoir, part historical and cultural investigation, The Country of the Blind represents Leland's determination not to merely survive this transition, but to grow from it--to seek out and revel in that which makes blindness enlightening. His story reveals essential lessons for all of us, from accepting uncertainty and embracing change to connecting with others across difference. Thought-provoking and brimming with warmth and humor, The Country of the Blind is at once a deeply personal journey and an intellectually exhilarating tour of a way of being that most of us have never paused to consider-and from which we have much to learn"--

Contents

  • Part 1 Phantom Limp
  • 1 Seeing Stars 3
  • 2 National Blindness 29
  • 3 Blinded by Definition 63
  • Part II Lost World
  • 4 Male Gaze 99
  • 5 Camera Obscura 131
  • 6 Library of Babel 163
  • 7 Makers 203
  • Part III Structured Discovery
  • 8 Against Blindness 243
  • 9 Lady Justice 271
  • 10 Half Smiling 309.

Subjects