Quite a number of books have been written on Joseph Merrick, even though tragically, some authors still get the name wrong. It was 'Joseph' and NOT 'John'. Some books are serious in nature, while others... [sigh] ..... others make one grimace, just after reading a few pages.
Perhaps you would like to share your book preferences and tell us why they are so special, (or indeed, horrific), to you.
I'm not aware of very many books about Joseph, but there are plenty of Internet biographies of that get his name wrong. At one site, a reader even asked "Was John Merrick Joseph's brother?" (Actually Joseph did have a baby brother named John Thomas, who died in infancy. More about him later)
ReplyDeleteMainly I've noticed errors about his life such as stating that Joseph spent "most of his life" in freak shows--actually it was barely two years. Another false statement is that Joseph's skeleton is "on display" at the Royal London Hospital.
The most egregious error is the business about Michael Jackson's rumored bid to buy Joseph's bones, a hideous publicity stunt at best.
The most accurate and complete biography of Joseph remains Howell and Ford's "True History of the Elephant Man," but it has become seriously outdated. A new biography with fresh information is in the works.
One of the most comprehensive books, at least in my humble opinion, is "The Elephant Man, A study in Human Dignity." by Ashley Montague. Of course, I may be a bit biased, since it was the first truly Merrick book I've ever owned (Aside from my copy of the Pomerance play.)
ReplyDeleteIt is by far one of the most well-written books about Joseph out there. It talks of Treves's memoirs, and then deconstructs it to root out the false "artistic licensing", giving us a very clear picture of Joseph's life.
Though it does meander around a little bit, it is mostly straight to the point
I highly recommend it.
Are we talking non-fiction only? If so, I think the most comprehensive and interesting book I found so far was "The True History of the Elephant Man", which is probably the first book on Joseph I read ever back in 2009.
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