Christy Brown
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Christy Brown (June 5, 1932 – September 7, 1981) was an Irish author, painter and poet.
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[edit] Life and career
Born in Crumlin, Dublin, he was one of thirteen surviving children (out of twenty-two born) in a Catholic family. He was handicapped with cerebral palsy and was incapable for years of deliberate movement or speech. Doctors considered him to be mentally disabled as well. However, his mother continued to speak to him, work with him, and try to teach him until he famously snatched a piece of chalk from his sister with his left foot to make a mark on the floor. He was about five years old and only his left foot responded to his will. His mother then taught him the alphabet and he laboriously copied each letter, holding chalk between his toes. He learned to spell out words and finally to read. In the meantime, his brothers took him everywhere in an old go-cart or wagon and included him in their activities as much as possible. They even took him swimming, much to his delight. When the cart finally broke, his adventures with his brothers came to an end. He became aware of his disabilities and withdrew from public gaze and into reading.
After his mother broke through the physical barrier and achieved communication, Bridget Brown went into hospital for the birth of her 21st child. While there, Bridget met a Lady Almoner (Katriona MaGuire, 1924–) who was working the impoverished area of the inner-city in Dublin and its tenements, with the Irish writer and philanthropist Dr. Robert Collis. Katriona told Collis about the unique story of Christy and his mother and Dr. Collis was intrigued. After using his contacts in John Hopkins and in London Hospitals, he realised Christy Brown has a severe case of double-athetoid cerebral palsy. He decided he would begin a treatment centre in Ireland for all victims of cerebral palsy (the first of its kind in the country) and that Christy Brown would be his first patient. He then went to meet Christy in the Brown family home in Kimmage, Dublin. While there he and Christy bonded and cemented a life-long friendship; both loved literature and Collis was friends with some of the great Irish writers at the time such as Cecil Day-Lewis (father of Daniel Day-Lewis) and Frank O'Connor amongst others. Collis had attended school in Cambridge and was well connected in both the literary and medical fields. Not only did he introduce Brown to these writers, but he guided him in the writing of Brown's first Book 'My Left Foot'(1954).
Collis also asked Brown to attend a treatment centre for cerebral palsy in London, where Brown met Robert Collis's sister Dr. Eileen Collis. After examining Christy, she made him promise to stop using his left foot, because in using it he twisted the rest of his body into an unnatural position.(Dr. Eileen Cole in the film version of 'My Left Foot' is a composite character of Katriona MaGuire, Dr Robert Collis and Dr. Eirene Collis). After Dr Robert Collis had opened a new clinic in Dublin, specialising in Cerebral Palsy care, Christy was invited to join, and he attended treatment there for several years. He was also tutored by several people in the family home in Kimmage – Dr. Robert Collis, a Dr. Warrants and a local priest taught him philosophy, mathematics, literature and language skills. After the publication of his first book (which was written firstly by his brothers and sisters transcribing for him and then with his own left foot and a pencil) he decided he had gained all he could from the treatment and he left the clinic.
Brown's autobiography describes a trip to Lourdes, which was a solemn and uplifting adventure for the young Brown, but ineffectual in producing any physical improvement. Brown describes his attachments, passions, and crushes, his admiration for his doctors and teachers, and his frustrations with his abilities. His father was a bricklayer who recruited his sons into the same trade. Gradually, Christy withdrew into a life of the mind and had less and less in common with his brothers in his age group. He felt that the younger children in his family, a different age group, were less familiar. His mother persuaded the family to build him a small, separate house in their back yard. It became his studio, where he could withdraw for peace and quiet, away from his siblings and their spouses and children.
Brown switched from reading to writing and from writing to painting. Then he decided to write his autobiography. As he was self-taught and had read only Dickens, he wrote in a florid and old-fashioned style, dictating hundreds of pages to two of his brothers, but the work was unreadable even for him. Eventually he asked Dr. Collis for help. Dr. Collis was also a published author and poet, who could and did provide valuable instruction in the art of writing as well as encouragement. One command was to read modern authors, another to avoid clichés. In 1964, after the publication of 'My Left Foot' Christy worked for the Disabled Artists Association, painting on average one work a week for over five years. He left the DAA after the publication of the tremendously successful 'Down All the Days' (1970).
His autobiography, My Left Foot, was later expanded into the novel Down All The Days and became an international bestseller, with translations into fourteen languages. The Irish Times reviewer Bernard Share said the book was "...the most important Irish novel since Ulysses". Like Joyce, Brown employed the stream-of-consciousness technique, and captured the Dublin culture in his use of humour, language and unique character description. Down All the Days was a novel of Ireland and its society, focusing more on that than Brown's illness. Down All The Days was followed by a series of other novels, including A Shadow on Summer(1972), Wild Grow the Lilies (1976) and A Promising Career (published posthumously in 1982). He also published three poetry collections, including Come Softly to My Wake, Background Music and Of Snails and Skylarks (now available in a compendium as The Collected Poems of Christy Brown).
With his wife, Mary Carr (whom he married on October 5, 1972 in Sutton Co Dublin), he settled in Ballyheigue, County Kerry. He later moved to Parbrook, Somerset, England, where he died, aged 49. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
My Left Foot, a film version of his autobiography, was filmed by Jim Sheridan in 1989 with a screenplay by Shane Connaughton. Daniel Day-Lewis starred as Christy while Brenda Fricker played Brown's mother; both won Oscars for their roles in their film. The film was nominated for five Oscars in total including best picture, and also won best adapted screenplay (Jim Sheridan and Shane Connaughton).
The Irish rock band The Pogues paid tribute to Christy Brown with a song titled "Down All the Days". It is the seventh track on their 1989 recording, Peace and Love.
[edit] Bibliography
- 1954 My Left Foot
- 1970 Down All The Days
- 1971 Come Softly to My Wake (Poems of Christy Brown)
- 1973 Background Music: Poems
- 1976 A Shadow on Summer
- 1976 Wild Grow the Lilies
- 1978 Of Snails And Skylarks
[edit] References
Christy Brown – The Life that Inspired My Left Foot, by Georgina Louise Hambleton. Mainstream Publishing, 2007. UK.
