Just fifty or so pages are enough to tell the wonderful story of a real transformation in the life of a young Englishman who, from a sideshow freak exhibited in circuses, is finally recognized as a human being. The ingredients are simple, or should be simple: listening, respect, closeness. It is Frederick Treves – the doctor who studied the case of Joseph Merrick (1853-1890), known as The Elephant Man for his deformed appearance – who tells how, over time, he learned to know the man, who had previously been pinned down by his disability. For years the only wish of that «outcast» had been to hide in the dark; lacking «a past to think about» and «a future to look forward to», at twenty he is without hope. Yet, right when all seems lost (because he is no longer even useful as a «monster»), thanks to a bright room and human warmth, he reveals himself to be intelligent, sensitive, and passionate about books and letters. Fifty pages that truly have so much to tell us about our stereotyped, hasty, cruel, sterile way of looking at others. But they also bear witness to the existence of people who, though wounded and humiliated, refuse to be contaminated by the hatred they were fed.
The Elephant Man
Frederick Treves
51 pages
Translated by Matteo Codignola
Adelphi, 2026
€7