Helen Keller: A LifeUniversity of Chicago Press, 1999 M12 15 - 394 pages Dorothy Herrmann's powerful biography of Helen Keller tells the whole story of the controversial and turbulent relationship between Helen and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Herrmann also chronicles Helen's doomed love affair, her struggles to earn a living, her triumphs at Radcliffe College, and her work as an advocate for the disabled. Helen Keller has been venerated as a saint or damned as a fraud, but Herrmann shows her to have been a beautiful, intelligent, high-strung, and passionate woman whose life was transformed not only by her disabilities but also by the remarkable people on whose help and friendship she relied. "Fascinating. . . . Stripping away decades of well-meaning sentimentality, Herrmann presents a pair of strong-willed women, who struggled to build their own lives while never forgetting their dependence on each other."—Ron Charles, Christian Science Monitor "We meet an entirely unexpected Helen Keller—a woman with deep if concealed ambivalence toward her self-sacrificing teacher; a political radical; and a woman longing for romantic love and the fulfilled sexual life of a woman."—Joan Mellen, Philadelphia Inquirer "Herrmann's portrait of Keller is both fully embodied and unflinchingly candid."—Mary Loeffelholz, Boston Sunday Globe "This well-proportioned biography of the deaf and blind girl who became a great American crusader rescues its subject from the shackles of sainthood without destroying her as an American hero."—Dennis Drabelle, Cleveland Plain Dealer "Herrmann's engrossing biography helps us see beyond the public's fascination with how Keller dealt with her disabilities to discover the woman Keller strived to be."—Nancy Seidman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Perhaps the most intimate biography [of Helen Keller]. [Herrmann] gives her back her sexuality [and] imbues her with a true humanity. . . . Helen Keller: A Life has some of the texture and the dramatic arc of a good novel."—Dinitia Smith, New York Times |
Contents
Helen | 3 |
Laura | 14 |
Annie | 27 |
Helen and Annie | 52 |
The Eighth Wonder of the World | 63 |
Angel Child | 86 |
It Took the Pair of You | 99 |
A Born Schemer | 114 |
The Dreadful Drama Is Finished | 231 |
Helen Without Annie | 258 |
Polly and Nella | 266 |
A Source of Embarrassment | 281 |
In a Black Silent Hole | 293 |
A Witness of God | 303 |
I Am in Agony | 313 |
The End of a Friendship | 320 |
HalfRome | 124 |
John | 140 |
The World I Live In | 156 |
A Fiery Radical | 171 |
More of an Institution Than a Woman | 180 |
A Little Island of Joy | 194 |
Separation | 200 |
Hollywood | 211 |
The Star of Happiness | 221 |
A Fragile Porcelain Lady | 332 |
Helens Legacy | 337 |
Works by Helen Keller | 347 |
Notes | 349 |
375 | |
Acknowledgments | 379 |
383 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Alexander Graham Bell American Foundation Anagnos's Anne Sullivan Macy Annie Sullivan Annie's Arcan Ridge Arthur Gilman asked beautiful became biographer Boston Braddy Henney Braille Captain Keller CHAPTER child Clemens dark deaf-blind deaf-blind person death disabled doctor dreams eyes face feel felt friends Frost King Gilman girl hand handicapped hear hearing-sighted heart Helen and Annie Helen and Teacher Helen Keller Helen read Hopkins ibid John Macy Kate Keller Katharine Cornell knew later Laura Bridgman learned letter married Michael Anagnos Midstream Mildred mind Miss Keller Miss Sullivan mother Nella's never Patty Duke Perkins Institution Polly Thomson Polly's pupil quoted in Lash seemed sense sight social socialist speech spelled story talk tell things thought told touch Tuscumbia Usher syndrome vaudeville wanted woman women wonderful words World I Live Wrentham write York young