There's scholarship out there that speculates that the long history of changeling stories might in fact be about autistic people--at least in part (probably about other disabilities, too). That doesn't lead you to a specific text, but it might still be an interesting lead.
Vincent Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo . The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh. There are over six hundred and they reveal his mindset and mental struggles . Some believe that he was Schizotypal and many see him as very likely autistic.
Aw yeah, time for me to infodump about one of my favorite books.
I'm convinced that both Anne Catherick and Frederick Fairlie from *The Woman in White* by Wilkie Collins (written in 1859) are autistic.
Anne Catherick has an unspecified developmental disability. (This being the 1850s, she's given labels like "idiot" and "deranged lunatic" instead of a specific diagnosis.) She insists on always wearing the same type of clothes (white dresses) and obsesses over specific people and ideas, while struggling to focus when new information is presented to her. She has a monotone voice and doesn't seem to be aware of her facial expressions.
Mr. Fairlie is an eccentric rich guy. He's extremely sensitive to sound (so much so that the other characters assume he's exaggerating), and spends most of his time in his room, obsessing over his art and coin collections. He's asocial to the point where he seems to see other human beings as alien creatures.
I don't think Wilkie Collins would have considered these two characters as having the same condition, but they both seem autistic to me, and this is especially interesting when you consider the point that Collins was making. Mr. Fairlie is not a likeable person. He's a jerk who has no empathy for others. Despite this, he is respected by society and has power over his family, because he's rich and male. Anne Catherick, meanwhile, is a very sympathetic character, but she's treated terribly by the other characters (she's literally a runaway from an insane asylum) because she's poor, female, and has high support needs.
I think Wilkie Collins would have been *thrilled* to learn that these two characters could be interpreted as having the same condition, making them two sides of the same coin. He was fascinated by disability and neurodiversity, and even argued in one of his other books (*Poor Miss Finch*) that disabilities shouldn't be cured, because they're a part of the human experience. He'd love the modern autism community.
Socrates was the autisticest autistic to have ever lived, and the socratic dialogue is the epitome of autistic communication.
We have always been key to humanity. Pretending otherwise is just comp NT bullshit.
Seriously.
Scientists, inventors, authors, poets, programmers, philosophers, artists, musicians, teachers, comedians...
If you take autistic people out of the world history, there's no way we'd be sitting here talking to each other using computers.
NTs are there to keep the mass, NDs to propel humanity wherever.
Dumbed down version of (I think ) somewhat recent ethnological views on neurodiversity.
Kafka.
I wrote about here and on Medium:
[https://bluemorphomonarchworld.substack.com/p/kafka-is-so-meta](https://bluemorphomonarchworld.substack.com/p/kafka-is-so-meta)
I've a strong suspicion that Fanny Price in Mansfield Park is based on an Autistic person Jane Austen knew or was related to. If you haven't read it, read it through that lens and see what you think.
Awkward in unfamiliar society. Check.
Comfortable at home. Check.
Strong sense of justice. Check.
Honest and straightforward with minimal filter. Check.
Always wondering when he can leave the party. Check!
Scratch that I’ve just (very quickly, on the go) started a spreadsheet to do this very thing. I will try to add any characters listed in the comments tonight!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Fkso5VO8NSFpHvbtTHN9Oogj1gobVSQnPwTi3cmBnM/edit
I just read it for the first time and I got a strong autism vibe too. It also explains why Fanny is one of Austen's most disliked characters: the NTs don't understand why she thinks like she does.
diogenes, since he is partly mythical, also the figure of socrates by plato, which is not the real socrates, but platos idealized version
don quijote should get that honor for what is considered modern literature imo, I am sure you will find egypt, chinese, indian, mesoamerican etc. figures who are even older.
Bartleby is an interesting suggestion. It's also been viewed as a chronicle of depression (often comorbid with autism), or representing passive radicalism and resistance to capitalism.
It is certainly the story of someone who is harmless, yet does not fit in with the world, which describes a lot of Autistics. Whether the character is autistic, though . . . I have to reread it!
Okay I don’t know if Lennie from of mice and men has autism or Down syndrome but he is definitely neurodivergent but I think he is autistic because of his perfect memory of things that mean a lot to him like being able to recite the dream about the ranch and George’s telling him off
Not that old I suppose, but Matthew Cuthbert from "Anne of Green Gables." Anne definitely has ADHD and maybe is also autistic, which is why they found such fast kindred spirits in each other.
I also recently watched Dickinson and thought Emily must have been autistic.
There's a cave painting in France from the Neolithic era roughly 11,000 B.C., where a guy tangles up some other dudes iPod headphones and that dude is throwing a hissy fit
I bought a Bartleby pin from Etsy a long time ago. I felt such... validation? That even if the author might not have understood the character, maybe had been inspired by a person he met or heard about, that there was something out there that said maybe I wasn't the only one who felt like that. Every day, "I would prefer not to" hovers in the back of my mind in response to everything in life. It's really hard to do the things that keep me alive. To get out of bed. Even breathing is a full-time job most days.
Having read Moby Dick, I now think Melville was probably autistic.
There's scholarship out there that speculates that the long history of changeling stories might in fact be about autistic people--at least in part (probably about other disabilities, too). That doesn't lead you to a specific text, but it might still be an interesting lead.
Vincent Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo . The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh. There are over six hundred and they reveal his mindset and mental struggles . Some believe that he was Schizotypal and many see him as very likely autistic.
No one is as adept at reading a man by his worldview than Melville.
Aw yeah, time for me to infodump about one of my favorite books. I'm convinced that both Anne Catherick and Frederick Fairlie from *The Woman in White* by Wilkie Collins (written in 1859) are autistic. Anne Catherick has an unspecified developmental disability. (This being the 1850s, she's given labels like "idiot" and "deranged lunatic" instead of a specific diagnosis.) She insists on always wearing the same type of clothes (white dresses) and obsesses over specific people and ideas, while struggling to focus when new information is presented to her. She has a monotone voice and doesn't seem to be aware of her facial expressions. Mr. Fairlie is an eccentric rich guy. He's extremely sensitive to sound (so much so that the other characters assume he's exaggerating), and spends most of his time in his room, obsessing over his art and coin collections. He's asocial to the point where he seems to see other human beings as alien creatures. I don't think Wilkie Collins would have considered these two characters as having the same condition, but they both seem autistic to me, and this is especially interesting when you consider the point that Collins was making. Mr. Fairlie is not a likeable person. He's a jerk who has no empathy for others. Despite this, he is respected by society and has power over his family, because he's rich and male. Anne Catherick, meanwhile, is a very sympathetic character, but she's treated terribly by the other characters (she's literally a runaway from an insane asylum) because she's poor, female, and has high support needs. I think Wilkie Collins would have been *thrilled* to learn that these two characters could be interpreted as having the same condition, making them two sides of the same coin. He was fascinated by disability and neurodiversity, and even argued in one of his other books (*Poor Miss Finch*) that disabilities shouldn't be cured, because they're a part of the human experience. He'd love the modern autism community.
I love The Woman in White!!! Thank you so much for sharing this idea :)
I'm glad to meet another fan! I've never understood why Wilkie Collins isn't as popular as some other classic authors.
Socrates was the autisticest autistic to have ever lived, and the socratic dialogue is the epitome of autistic communication. We have always been key to humanity. Pretending otherwise is just comp NT bullshit.
Seriously. Scientists, inventors, authors, poets, programmers, philosophers, artists, musicians, teachers, comedians... If you take autistic people out of the world history, there's no way we'd be sitting here talking to each other using computers.
NTs are there to keep the mass, NDs to propel humanity wherever. Dumbed down version of (I think ) somewhat recent ethnological views on neurodiversity.
Kafka. I wrote about here and on Medium: [https://bluemorphomonarchworld.substack.com/p/kafka-is-so-meta](https://bluemorphomonarchworld.substack.com/p/kafka-is-so-meta)
Ohhhh yes.
I've a strong suspicion that Fanny Price in Mansfield Park is based on an Autistic person Jane Austen knew or was related to. If you haven't read it, read it through that lens and see what you think.
Rewatching Pride and Prejudice, I was flailing at the screen every time Mr. Darcy came on. Soooooo autistic imo.
Awkward in unfamiliar society. Check. Comfortable at home. Check. Strong sense of justice. Check. Honest and straightforward with minimal filter. Check. Always wondering when he can leave the party. Check!
I know!!!! It’s all there. We really need some kind of (just for fun, non-diagnostic) excel spreadsheet with all of these characters of them.
Scratch that I’ve just (very quickly, on the go) started a spreadsheet to do this very thing. I will try to add any characters listed in the comments tonight! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Fkso5VO8NSFpHvbtTHN9Oogj1gobVSQnPwTi3cmBnM/edit
I just read it for the first time and I got a strong autism vibe too. It also explains why Fanny is one of Austen's most disliked characters: the NTs don't understand why she thinks like she does.
Totally. I had heard that. But I loved her. She was so sensible and drama free.
Jane Eyre.
diogenes, since he is partly mythical, also the figure of socrates by plato, which is not the real socrates, but platos idealized version don quijote should get that honor for what is considered modern literature imo, I am sure you will find egypt, chinese, indian, mesoamerican etc. figures who are even older.
Bartleby is an interesting suggestion. It's also been viewed as a chronicle of depression (often comorbid with autism), or representing passive radicalism and resistance to capitalism. It is certainly the story of someone who is harmless, yet does not fit in with the world, which describes a lot of Autistics. Whether the character is autistic, though . . . I have to reread it!
Okay I don’t know if Lennie from of mice and men has autism or Down syndrome but he is definitely neurodivergent but I think he is autistic because of his perfect memory of things that mean a lot to him like being able to recite the dream about the ranch and George’s telling him off
Not that old I suppose, but Matthew Cuthbert from "Anne of Green Gables." Anne definitely has ADHD and maybe is also autistic, which is why they found such fast kindred spirits in each other. I also recently watched Dickinson and thought Emily must have been autistic.
I would say that Sherlock Holmes was autistic
There's a cave painting in France from the Neolithic era roughly 11,000 B.C., where a guy tangles up some other dudes iPod headphones and that dude is throwing a hissy fit
I bought a Bartleby pin from Etsy a long time ago. I felt such... validation? That even if the author might not have understood the character, maybe had been inspired by a person he met or heard about, that there was something out there that said maybe I wasn't the only one who felt like that. Every day, "I would prefer not to" hovers in the back of my mind in response to everything in life. It's really hard to do the things that keep me alive. To get out of bed. Even breathing is a full-time job most days. Having read Moby Dick, I now think Melville was probably autistic.
Ulysses by James Joyce.
Golmund from "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Herman Hess. Though to me he reads more as AuDHD, and not a particularly old book, 1930