Deaf in Literature

Material

Mrs. Sigourney of Hartford: Poems and Prose on the Early American Deaf Community

"Lydia Huntley was born in 1791 in Norwich, CT, the only child of a poor Revolutionary war veteran. But her father's employer, a wealthy widow, gave young Lydia the run of her library and later sent her for visits to Hartford, CT. After teaching at her own school for several years in Norwich, Lydia returned to Hartford to head a class of 15 girls from the best families. Among her students was Alice Cogswell, a deaf girl soon to be famous as a student of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc.

Edna Edith Sayers and Diana Moore, editors

Material

Outcasts and Angels : The New Anthology of Deaf Characters in Literature

In 1976, Trent Batson and Eugene Bergman released their classic "Angels and Outcasts: An Anthology of Deaf Characters in Literature." In it, they featured works from the 19th and 20th centuries by well-known authors such as Charles Dickens and Eudora Welty. They also presented less-well-known deaf authors, and they prefaced each excerpt with remarks on context, societal perceptions, and the dignity due to deaf people. Since then, much has transpired, turning around the literary criticism regarding portrayals of deaf people in print.

Edited by: Edna Edith Sayers