Keller, Helen (Adams)

views updated

KELLER, Helen (Adams)

Born 27 June 1880, Tuscumbia, Alabama; died 1 June 1968, Westport, Connecticut

Also wrote under: Helen Adams Keller

Daughter of Arthur H. and Katherine Adams Keller

Helen Keller was nineteen months old when illness left her deaf and blind. She soon became wild and unmanageable, locked inside a dark, silent world no humanizing influence seemed able to penetrate. In the 1890s almost no hope existed for educating people both deaf and blind, but Keller's parents turned to the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston for help. The institution sent Anne Sullivan, a new graduate who had recently had her own sight partially restored, to educate the child to whatever extent proved possible. Undreamed of success followed, and Keller eventually, in 1904, earned a B.A. cum laude from Radcliffe College.

Keller became friends with many of the world's greatest people, including Alexander Graham Bell, Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Charlie Chaplin, and Andrew Carnegie. At least nine presidents received her, and a half dozen of the most prestigious universities in the world bestowed honorary degrees upon her. From 1924 until her death in 1968, Keller was associated with the American Foundation for the Blind, traveling to every state in the U.S. and to every continent in the world, working to enlarge the possibilities for disabled people.

Keller's first book was The Story of My Life (1902, several reissues, including 1988), first published serially by the Ladies' Home Journal. The book contains, in addition to her early autobiography, her letters from 1887 to 1901, passages from Anne Sullivan's reports about Keller's education, and comments by John Albert Macy. Keller describes the terrible isolation of the blind and deaf mute as a "twofold solitude" in which one can "know little of the… affections that grow out of endearing words and actions and companionship." She tells about an incident of unconscious plagiarism, which happened in 1892, and about the fear that grew from this "disgrace," saying "even now I cannot be quite sure of the boundary line between my ideas and those I find in books. I suppose that is because so many of my impressions come to me through the medium of others' eyes and ears." The Story of My Life is lively and interesting to read, and it contributed significantly to the body of knowledge about educating the deaf-blind.

Midstream: My Later Life (1929) brings up to date the story of this remarkable woman and her teacher. It also gives the reader a lively picture of life in America during the first three decades of this century. Keller recounts vividly a long visit in the early 1900s with Mark Twain at his home. During the visit, she told Twain about her friend W. S. Booth having "discovered" that the literature usually attributed to Shakespeare was actually written by Francis Bacon. Twain was at first skeptical, she says, but less than a month later he brought out a new book attempting "to destroy the Shakespeare legend."

In Midstream, Keller seems to delight in using images of sight and sound, perhaps because some critics had questioned the honesty of this aspect of her style. Surely she had experienced in some physical way the scene she describes thus: "Out of the big, red, gaping mouths of the furnaces leaped immense billows of fire." Such vivid sensory images enliven this entire book in a degree that would be noteworthy even in a writer without handicaps.

Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy (1955) is certainly, as the title page proclaims, "a tribute by the foster-child of her mind." Keller memorably describes the incredible difficulties faced by Sullivan in introducing Keller to language. Once the child discovered things have names, her education proceeded with astonishing rapidity. Sullivan is presented as a human being with more than her share of human problems and foibles, but when compared with Keller's earlier clean, concrete writing, the book seems somewhat repetitious and sentimental. Her many other books include poetry (Double Blossoms, 1931) and social criticism (Helen Keller, Her Socialist Years: Writings and Speeches, 1967). But her best work is found in her autobiographical books.

Other Works:

Optimism, an Essay (1903). The World I Live In (1908). The Song of the Stone Wall (1910). Out of the Dark: Essays, Letters, and Addresses on Physical and Social Vision (1913). My Religion (1927). We Bereaved (1929). Peace at Eventide (1932). Helen Keller in Scotland (edited by J. K. Love, 1933). American Foundation for the Blind, 1923-1938: A Report from Helen Keller to the Blind People of America (1938). Journal,1936-1937 (1938). Let Us Have Faith (1940). Open Door (1957). Light in My Darkness (1994).

Bibliography:

Barnett, G., Inspiration and Innovation: Helen Keller and the American Foundation for the Blind (1996). Benge, J., Helen Keller: Facing Her Challenges, Challenging the World (2000). Benjamin, A., Young Helen Keller: Woman of Courage (1992). Braddy, N., Anne Sullivan Macy: The Story Behind Helen Keller (1933). Brooks, V. W., Helen Keller: Sketch for a Portrait (1956). Cush, C., Women Who Achieved Greatness (1995). Einhorn, L. J., Helen Keller, Public Speaker: Sightless but Seen, Deaf but Heard (1998). Felder, D. G., The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present (1996). Gibson, W., The Miracle Worker: A Play for Television (1957). Graff, S., and P. A. Graff, Helen Keller: Toward the Light (1965). Harrity, R., and J. G. Martin, The Three Lives of Helen Keller (1962). Hedin, L., Voices of Light and Grace: Reflections on the Lifework of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy (1991). Herrmann, D., Helen Keller: A Life (2nd edition, 1999). Hickok, L. A., The Touch of Magic (1961). Hunter, N., Helen Keller (1985). Klages, M. K., "More Wonderful Than Any Fiction: The Representation of Helen Keller" (thesis, 1989). Logue, M., Trust: The Story of Helen Keller (1999). Macdonald, F., Helen Keller: The Deaf and Blind Woman Who Conquered Her Disabilities and Devoted Her Life to Campaign for Other People (1992). Markham, L., Helen Keller (1993). Morgan, N., Helen Keller (reissue, 1995). Nicholson, L., Helen Keller: Humanitarian (1998). Peare, C. O., The Helen Keller Story (1959, 1992). Polcovar, J., Helen Keller (1988). Rolka, G. M., 100 Women Who Shaped World History (1994). Sabin, F., The Courage of Helen Keller (1998). Santrey, L., Helen Keller (1985). St. George, J., Dear Dr. Bell—Your Friend, Helen Keller (reissue, 1994). Sullivan, G., Helen Keller (2000). Tames, R., Helen Keller (1991). Waite, H. E., Valiant Companions: Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy (1959). Wepman, D., Helen Keller (1987). Woodhouse, J., Helen Keller (reissue, 1999). Zonderman, J., Helen Keller & Annie Sullivan, Working Miracles Together (1984).