The True History of the Elephant Man (Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Biography Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Ford, Michael Howell
- First Published: 1980
- Time of Work: 1860–1890
- Setting: England
- Principal Characters: Joseph Merrick, Sir Frederick Treves, Tom Norman, Sam Torr
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Doctors, England or English people, Surgery or surgeons, Medicine, Disabilities or physically challenged persons, Circuses or carnivals, Diseases, Biography, Hospitals, Victorian era or Victorianism
- Locales: England
Form and Content
In The True History of the Elephant Man, Michael Howell and Peter Ford have composed a work that incorporates a biography with a medical summary of the man known throughout England as the “Elephant Man.” Little is known about Joseph (or John) Merrick, who was born in 1862 or 1863 and who died in 1889 or 1890. It is now known, however, that he suffered from a disorder called neurofibromatosis, or von Recklinghausen’s syndrome. This hereditary disease causes soft tumors to form throughout the body and, in severe cases such as Merrick’s, a...
[The entire page is 1342 words long]
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