Post by Nissa Annakindt on Dec 30, 2010 8:21:48 GMT -5
In one of my books of famous men who may have had Aspergers Syndrome, the name of Herman Melville came up. He is best known as the author of Moby Dick, but also wrote Billy Budd and a number of other works.
In a non-fiction book on South Pacific voyages, the works of Melville are one of the sources the author used to understand the life of sailors of the era.
I have only ever read Moby Dick of Melville's works, and he gave almost too much information on whaling and shipboard life, which may make the book less pleasing to modern taste.
If we are to assume that Melville did indeed have Aspergers and that nautical matters were one of his special interests, is perhaps that a hint as to one method aspies might successfully use in writing fiction? That is, to use one or more special interests as part of the story--- avoiding the long information-dumps that were acceptable in Melville's day but not today.
If you haven't read Melville yet, I know that at least Moby Dick is available as a free ebook (many formats including Kindle) at ManyBooks.net. And also I presume at Project Gutenberg.
In a non-fiction book on South Pacific voyages, the works of Melville are one of the sources the author used to understand the life of sailors of the era.
I have only ever read Moby Dick of Melville's works, and he gave almost too much information on whaling and shipboard life, which may make the book less pleasing to modern taste.
If we are to assume that Melville did indeed have Aspergers and that nautical matters were one of his special interests, is perhaps that a hint as to one method aspies might successfully use in writing fiction? That is, to use one or more special interests as part of the story--- avoiding the long information-dumps that were acceptable in Melville's day but not today.
If you haven't read Melville yet, I know that at least Moby Dick is available as a free ebook (many formats including Kindle) at ManyBooks.net. And also I presume at Project Gutenberg.