Still Lives by Jonathan Cole, MIT Press, $27.95/拢18.95, ISBN 0262033151 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
JONATHAN Cole is a consultant in clinical neuro-physiology. He deals with people who have injuries to their spinal cord. What Cole wanted to explore in Still Lives was what it was like to live your life as a paraplegic.
In his introduction he describes the physical details of such injuries, but valuable as that is, it is simply mapping pain and loss of movement. Living with these is a different matter altogether. In the first chapter Cole describes the consequences of particular injuries, most of which are appalling to contemplate. One of Cole鈥檚 12 interviewees remarked, 鈥淣obody has ever asked me what it is like to be a paraplegic, for this would violate all the rules of middle-class etiquette.鈥� Cole鈥檚 interviews uniquely go beyond the constraints of the doctor-patient relationship.
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Cole writes well, avoids sensation and is always clear. Yet the book is hard to read. It is impossible not to identify with the injured person, so it is also impossible not to be affected by their experiences and how they and other people, inevitably drawn in, cope with them. All these are highly personal narratives of struggles to deal with catastrophe and the techniques discovered and employed by the wounded in the wheelchair: a mixture of ordeals, achievement and humour.
For example, one paraplegic, developing bed sores, found the funny side in being trussed up like meat on a spit to relieve pressure on his body. He had to look at the ceiling for hours, and then, being turned, stare at the floor instead. Another patient, apparently invisible while conversation was going on across her, made her existence plain by loudly pointing out, 鈥淚 can see right up your nose.鈥� Such frank responses to Cole鈥檚 questions will bring you up short on many pages.
But, as Christopher Reeve鈥檚 high-profile struggle on behalf of the world鈥檚 paraplegics shows, treatment has changed dramatically in recent years. Much of this is also down to Ludwig Guttman鈥檚 work at Stoke Mandeville in the UK. The idea of keeping paraplegics in care homes or institutions has vanished and it is possible for those with spinal injury, though hugely impaired, to lead rewarding lives in normal surroundings. That can, of course, bring strain on other people, too. One paraplegic remarks: 鈥淎 key rule for being a successful sick person is: don鈥檛 complain.鈥� These conversations show how complex adjustment to such fundamental damage is and what immense efforts have to be made to succeed. Illuminating reading; inspiring, too.