New Yorker AS article - online :)

Post Reply New Topic

Article about Tim Page, New Yorker, August 20 2007 edition.
Get it while you can!

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007 ... table=true
Thank you New Yorker!

I read that article a couple days ago. It made me laugh and nod quite a lot. It is beautifully written and I'm sure it will resonate with many here.

Indeed, very nice

English speakers, what does this sentence mean?

Here is the original quote from Rolland, to which Page refers:

Pues, creo entonces que lo que quiere decir Page... es aunque la consecuencia natural de nuestra forma de pensar (lógicamente, como somos aspies ) sea el pesimismo, no hay que capitular ante el desaliento sino que decidir a ser un optimista y continuar a dar lo mejor de sí mismo, a pesar de que las cosas a veces no tienen sentido. Que esta decision es hecho con mucho valor. En eso piensa Page, cuando piensa en sus aspiraciones.

Sorry if my Spanish is bad. I am out of practice.

The article does resonate but it could have been better. Even though it is an autobiographical account of one man's unknown (until recently) struggle with autism, as a professional writer and critic, Tim Page ought to know how unattractive the pronoun "I" can be in any body of words. Obscure references do little to illuminate and much to irritate even when used as an elaborate metaphor to portray a mind that is fixedly obsessed on minutiae.

The book on autism has yet to be written but this article does take us one tiny step forward. Despite its flaws, I thank The New Yorker for its generosity.

well, it's like a divorced person wanting to get married again. She knows intellectually of the pitfalls and problems, but wants a committed relationship.

Merle

In an autobiography, there's really no way of getting around it. It is his story, and he has the right to claim it as such. There are plenty of first person narratives that simply wouldn't work without "I." It's formal writing that you're supposed to avoid using that pronoun.

I liked it (although some of the references went over my head; I'm from another generation). I related to most of it, especially the piñatas.

¡Gracias Gwenevyn! ya me quedó claro, especialmente después de leer lo de "no necesita tener esperanza para emprender, ni tener éxito para perseverar"

ah, y Gracias Merle por el chistoso ejemplo
Thanks Merle for the funny example

Thank you Computerlove for posting the link! I enjoyed the story. And related to much of it.

Be still my heart. When I was a kid I would have fallen in love with anyone that memorized the Encyclopedia too. The whole story rings so true of my childhood. And yes my teachers let me stay inside at recess and memorize things because I was bullied on the playground.

What a great way to put asperger's into words. Hopefully it will be illuminating to nts. Its not really easy to explain asperger's to someone who doesnt have it. This is a rather good illustration.

That was the part that got me. I couldn't even tell you where I've appropriated pieces of my personality, look, and mannerisms from, but they're mostly stolen from other people, and very quickly when I saw something I thought I "wanted" for myself.
The article, honestly, while I read many bits of it and nod, makes me realise I lucked out getting on the very low end of the spectrum, so much so that I read some bits and question whether my self-diagnosis is right, and then I'll skip onto the next paragraph and nod, and think "that's me," but I definitely think I had it easier. I think now, I need to learn to laugh about the report on the implications of modern genetics I handed in at school which was 5,500 words long (and gods, I had wanted to make it longer) when the assignment had had a limit of 1,500.
It's good stuff. My concern is that people will concentrate on what might be considered the more outrageous stuff, like wetting himself into his teens, which is really an aside to the genuine issues suffered, but may shock and become more of a focus than is warranted.