My Left Foot, the Autobiography of Christy Brown

My Left Foot, the Autobiography of Christy Brown

Christy Brown - My Left Foot

First edition, first impression, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Ismay Phipps, Christy Brown 30/5 ’56″, and with Phipps’s bookplate to front pastedown; also inscribed by the author’s mother on the same page, “Bridget Brown, best of luck”. In addition, there are 31 other signatures on the half-title and rear free endpaper. Presentation copies of this astonishing author’s books are far from common, especially of this title; indeed this is the first such copy we have seen. It was the basis of the Oscar winning film with the same title, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the author.

The story of Christy Brown is as inspirational as it is curious. Born with severe Cerebral Palsy, Brown was spared a life in convalescent hospitals by his parents, incredulous at the suggestion of anything other than personal care. Shunning the advice of doctors, they opted to raise their son with his siblings at the family home.

Despite only having control of his left foot, Brown learned to interact with the world around him, supported by family to the extent that he was unaware of his differences to other children for the first ten years of his life.

That Dublin childhood and the years of memories that were to follow – some sweet, many haunted by awful disparities – became My Left Foot.

Ultimately, this autobiographical work documents the writer’s discovery of artistic and literary talent, made possible by a growing dexterity and determination to communicate with the outside world. The story is often harrowing, however.

Awareness of his own disability at ten devastated Brown, triggered when his only mode of transport, a cart, gave up the ghost. With his siblings heading further afield to play, and left alone for the first time, the author was particularly troubled by his own appearance:

“I was left alone in the garden. I looked down at my hands twisting and twisting.

“…my face looked like an ugly mask. I was frightened by what I saw, because I had never thought I looked like that. I had looked in mirrors before, but, not knowing what to look for I had seen nothing peculiar. Now every time I looked in a mirror, the same grotesque face leered back at me.”

The book contains a foreword by Robert Collis, his doctor and friend for many years, whose sister -in-law was responsible for pioneering physiotherapy in Cerebral Palsy in the United Kingdom. Motivated by these advances, Robert was moved to locate Christy Brown, whom he had encountered many years previous:

“I first met Christy at a matinee show, arranged by a charity in which I was interested. He was perched on the back of a bigger brother coming out of the theatre. I was struck by the strangely beautiful expression of his face, and by his hunched appearance and athetoid movements.  When some years later I heard that something could be done for this group of motor defective children, I sought him out in his home. “

The doctor was to prove instrumental in Brown’s literary development. Collis encouraged him to write in a style other than the Dickensian prose that he had originally learned and drawn inspiration from, bringing him modern books, a tutor and the benefit of literary criticism. The resulting stream of consciousness catalogues a remarkably clear history on the part of the author, the tutoring and educational advancement itself eventually incorporated into the autobiography.

Christy Brown as a young boy, learning to draw with his foot

Christy Brown as a young boy, learning to draw with his foot.

The original autobiographical manuscripts were dictated to several different brothers over many months at a time, as Brown had been made to give up the use of his left foot to further his physiotherapy. That was to be a short-lived cessation, however. Brown was eventually discovered by Collis once again using his left foot to write, the doctor remarking, “I wondered how long you could stick it. Dictation is not quite enough is it?” Brown would continue to evolve his unique style of communication, even progressing to the use of a typewriter, upon which the book was finished.

My Left Foot is not only a testament to Brown’s determination, but to the family who refused societies, norms and assumptions, refusing to give up on one of their own. By treating Brown as an equal, this family unknowingly paved the way for sufferers of Cerebral Palsy and other disabilities to be seen, heard, and understood.

Some 16 years after the publication of My Left Foot, Brown penned a more literary and deliberate novel, expanding on his autobiography, Down All The Days. Very quickly, this second novel became a bestseller, financially securing Brown for the rest of his life. Two more books followed, A Shadow on Summer (1974) and Wild Grow the Lilies (1976), as well as three books of poetry. None of these later publications, however, came close to emulating the success of the first two books.

Dr. Collis would go on to found Cerebral Palsy Ireland in 1948 (now Enable Ireland). For the first few years, the assessment clinic was housed weekly in the National Children’s Hospital, and manned exclusively by volunteers. In 1951, the National Association of Cerebral Palsy was founded, allowing the expansion of the services from one weekly hire to comprehensive free services throughout the Counties.

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