Thursday, May 06, 2010
Opal Whiteley - a reference list
This list of sources of information about Opal Whiteley is now a part of Lili Marlene's two new ebooks about Opal Whiteley, which can be downloaded here from Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LiliMarlene
(last added to May 20th 2010)
Beck, Katherine (2003) Opal: a life of enchantment, mystery and madness. Penguin, 2003.
Bede, Elbert (1954) Fabulous Opal Whiteley: from Oregon logging camp to princess in India. Binfords & Mort, 1954.
Bradburne, E. S. (1962) Opal Whiteley: the unsolved mystery. Putnam, 1962.
[I have not read this book which is apparently a reprint of the diary with a lengthy foreword]
Brown, Julie (2010) Writers on the spectrum: how autism and Asperger syndrome have influenced literary writing. Jessica Kingsley, 2010.
[Writers discussed in this book by a literary academic include Hans Christian Andersen, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, William Butler Yeats, Sherwood Anderson and Opal Whiteley. Whiteley identified as a synesthete and an autist.]
Cross, Germaine A. (2005) Play of colors: the legend of Opal Whiteley. iUniverse, Inc., 2005.
Hoff, Benjamin (1986) The singing creek where the willows grow. Houghton Mifflin, 1986.
[apparently a reprint of the diary with a biography and a foreword]
Horton, Kami (writer, producer) (2010) Oregon experience: Opal Whiteley. Oregon Experience. Oregon Public Broadcasting. broadcast March 1st 2010.http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonexperience/programs/player/27-Opal-Whiteley
[an interesting TV show biography of Whiteley, Asperger syndrome mentioned]
Lawrence, Elizabeth (2000) Opal Whiteley: the continuing mystery. Thomas Harmsworth Publishing Co, 2000.
McQuiddy, Steve (1997) The fantastic tale of Opal Whiteley. Intangible Publications, 1997.http://www.intangible.org/Features/Opal/OpalHome.html
Opal Whiteley (accessed 2010) Encyclopedia of world biography.http://www.notablebiographies.com/supp/Supplement-Sp-Z/Whiteley-Opal.html
Taylor, I. (1992) Obituary: Opal Whiteley. Independent. February 24th 1992. p.16.
Whiteley, Opal (1920, 2001) The diary of Opal Whiteley. Intersect Digital Library, 2001.http://intersect.uoregon.edu/opal/default.html
[first published as articles titled The Story of Opal in the Atlantic Monthly magazine, later that year published as a book in London by G. P. Putnam & Sons, the US edition titled The Story of Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart was published by Atlantic Monthly Press.]
Who was Opal? (2010) BBC Radio 4. January 5th 2010.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pk9y9
http://www.efn.org/~opal/
[includes interviews with people who met Whiteley]
Wikipedia contributors (accessed 2010) Opal Whiteley. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Opal_Whiteley&oldid=349150793
Williamson, Stephen (accessed 2010) Opal Whiteley Memorial. (website)http://www.efn.org/~opal/
Williamson, Stephen H. (2009) The legend of Opal Whiteley. Cottage Grove Historical Society, c2007-2009.http://cottagegrovehistoricalsociety.com/opal_whiteley.html
[Asperger syndrome mentioned]
Wolff, Sula (1995) Loners: the life path of unusual children. Routledge.http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ltbeu-XY6YgC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
[Wittgenstein and Opal Whiteley are both described as schizoid and profiled in Chapter 12 of this book by a child psychiatrist who has been described as one of the founders of British child psychiatry]
The above list was taken from the reference list of this list of mine:
55 famous synaesthetes or possible synesthetes: a list with references.http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com/2009/01/famous-synaesthetes-or-possible.html
I love lists.
Well, my only claim to fame is the fact that I've created two referenced lists of famous people - famous autistics and famous synaesthetes (see my blog's link list). Opal is in both lists by virtue of the fact that two writers have identified Whiteley as a possible case of Asperger syndrome, and one of those writers(and maybe other people) have also identified Whiteley as a synaesthete. Whiteley was also clearly an intellectually gifted child. I have kids who are gifted, synaesthete and also somewhere on the spectrum, and I find these three brain-based conditions very interesting. I also find Whiteley interesting because her solitary immersion in and scientific and romantic fascination with the natural environment reminds me a lot of my own childhood. Opal's story is also fascinating from whatever point of view one sees her from. There are some quite disturbing questions about her adult life.
ReplyDeleteIf you know of anything to add to this list, new publications or missed stuff, please let me know.
ReplyDeleteI also find Whiteley interesting because of the similarities between her and some other mysterious neurodiverse females. Click on the label "Opal Whiteley" and my other pieces about Whiteley should come up.
ReplyDelete