SPARKS, Christine - The Elephant Man - (Paperback)

Book still in a very good condition - (faction = fact with fiction)    >>>   John Merrick had lived for more than twenty years imprisoned in a body that condemned him to a miserable life in the workhouse and to humiliation as a circus sideshow freak. But beneath that tragic exterior, within that enormous and deformed head, thrived the soul of a poet, the heart of a dreamer, the longings of a man.    -   Merrick was doomed to suffer for ever until the kind Dr. Treves gave him the first real home in the London Hospital and the towns most beautiful and esteemed actress made possible Merrick's cherished dream of human contact and love.  -  Based on the very sad true story and the later made into the extraordinary motion picture that captured the heart of America.   >>>    Born 1862, , Leicestershire, Englanddied April 11, 1890, ), disfigured man who, after a brief career as a professional freak, became a patient of London Hospital from 1886 until his death. Displays of the Elephant Man were part of the human curiosities movement of the 19th century that saw the exploitation of African slave and the rise of showman and carnival .   -   Merrick was apparently normal until about the age of five, when he began showing signs of a strange disorder that caused abnormal growths of much of his and . The size of his head increased to 3 feet (almost 1 metre) in circumference, with spongy skin hanging from the back of his head and across his face; deformation of the jaws rendered him incapable of showing facial expression or speaking clearly. Although his left arm was normal, his right arm ended in a wrist that was 12 inches (30 cm) in circumference and a finlike hand. His legs were deformed in the same manner as his arm, and a defective hip caused such lameness that Merrick could walk only with the aid of a stick. The disorder from which Merrick suffered was long thought to be an extremely severe case of , but his deformities were probably the result of an extremely rare disease known as Proteus syndrome.   -   Merrick was to a at age 17, then escaped four years later to join a (1883). While on exhibition, he was discovered by a London physician, Frederick Treves, and admitted to London Hospital (1886). A letter that was published in an (unsuccessful) effort to find Merrick a hospital for chronic medical cases drew the attention of London society, which earned him a measure of fame and led to Merrick receiving visits from a number of prominent individuals, including . He remained at London Hospital until, at age 27, he died in his sleep of accidental suffocation.          * Biography *