Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller

This book is one of the best takes on the classic Helen Keller story. Kleege, legally blind herself, pens letters to Keller voicing her concerns and anguish. For me, it was really interesting hearing a blind person's opinion on Helen Keller. I also had the privilege of taking one of Professor Kleege's English class, and being pretty much an expert on the Helen Keller topic, her insights are really something else. This book is good for anybody who wants a new perspective on the Helen Keller story.

Was drawn to this book by the idea of understanding the human condition...it's not what we say...rather our thought matter much~.On hold to read ...

Such a good read.

Maybe someone should write a book about Georgina Kleege speculating on HER private life. Then she can find out how she likes it. Now, I agree Helen Keller should not be placed on a pedestal as a saint. I am trying to understand what the author was trying to endeavor, and the book was very original and adventurous -- oh, let's say daring -- but some of the manufactured conversation and "what ifs" were just. . . . smarmy. I'm not saying this out of prudishness, but a sense that it was rather unfair to a woman no longer alive to defend herself. If anything, Helen was much over-protected by supposedly well-meaning caretakers and -- to a fault, re: Peter Fagan -- by her family. I don't think any boys crawled into her girlhood bedroom and defiled her. Annie or her mother or a household servant was always around to watch and someone -- usually Annie -- always slept in the child's bedroom for her safety in case she got up in the night, from what I've read elsewhere. I just don't buy into Kleege's hint that her father possibly could have sexually abused her, and anyone giving the argument, "Well, we don't know, do we?" doesn't hold weight -- why bring up something that awful unless we know without doubt it is true? How on earth must the surviving family members -- descendants of Keller and Adams relatives -- feel about this book?Actually, those surmised conversations in these pages somehow annoyed me much more than the actual speculations of Helen's supposed sexual episodes with Annie Sullivan and John Macy and whatever else was being put forth to evaluate. A "free love" relationship with Peter Fagan, sure, scholars now see that as a distinct possibility with Helen's open minded advocacy, but that was that woman's own private business, for heaven's sake. Their thwarted elopement was tragic enough. But the "family conversations" and how Helen, John, Annie, Helen's mother Kate, and so forth supposedly conversed with Helen outside of authenticated letters -- why not leave the memory of their interaction to their own privacy as deceased people? I didn't like the tone of "re-creating" Helen's barely-intelligible speech which as a deaf woman of that era she couldn't help. It sounded like cruel parody even though surely that could not be what the author intended. It was not necessary, and doesn't -- at least for this reader -- give the impression of "being really there." Overall, this book wasn't like being a fly on the wall. It was more like being a centipede behind the toilet. No, there are other, much more responsible biographies about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy which do bring up the uncomfortable questions (how could poor Annie Sullivan NOT have suffered at least some episodes of degrading abuse as a handicapped child in a slovenly public poorhouse of the 1870's, when the general opinion of poverty was that those suffering from it deserved to be punished? Sullivan more than alluded to the depravity of the institution herself without having to come out and say what happened to her directly, as we see in Nella Braddy Henny's 1933 biography and Joseph Lash's 1980 one); -- books which do discuss with tact and fairness what could have gone on in the Macy household while John lived there; books which depict a genuine Helen who wasn't always a beaming, sunny saint, who desired and craved passion as any healthy and well-adjusted woman would. But the biographies were conducted with research, interviews of those who had known them in life, and voluminous surviving correspondence (that is, not destroyed in the 1946 house fire). No one had to "re-create" phony conversations or speculate upon sordid scenarios which reflect today's "confessional TV" culture. For all of the points of interest in Kleege's book, there was overall too much of the feel of getting the contemporary --and grubby -- version of a pseudo-biography -- dramatized and fictionalized. Helen just doesn't deserve that.

"I grew up hating you". These are some of the first words that writer Georgina Kleege uses in her correspondence to Helen Keller. Shocking admission, I know. Although I never experienced hatred toward Helen, I can thoroughly relate to Kleege's feelings because I, like the author, am blind. We are always reminded about Helen Keller by our sighted peers, and, this is not a bad thing. However, it can be a little intimidating because Helen's persona seems so unruffled: the perfect picture of someone rising above all adversity.Ms. Kleege dares to strip away Helen's public veneer and speculate about crucial incidents within her life. What follows is a fascinating collection of letters that effortlessly blend fictional speculation with nonfiction facts. The world can be a hostile place for those with disabilities, and Kleege is all-too aware of this fact. In effect, the author is saying, "Wake up, Helen! You have a right to be angry at the way you were perceived by others. You are not dumb. Speak out!" Kleege's tone is conversational: at times angry, bemused, and, ultimately, peaceful. This book is a journey of self-discovery. We as readers are allowed to speculate about Helen's relationship with Teacher, (Annie Sullivan), and about other instances. Kleege learns through these letters how to break down her barrier of resentment and to let Helen's silence be enough of an answer. We are all fragile human beings navigating through life; none of us perfect, yet all of us strong in our own way.The most fascinating chapter to me was Kleege's exploration of Helen's sexuality. So many possible scenarios, and such a complex and bittersweet array of possibilities. Also, the final chapter is peaceful in tone and very moving. Maybe Helen is not as passive as first believed. Kleege is truly a gifted artist of the written word, and her creative writing style makes reading nonfiction a marvelous experience.I implore you to read this book. You will not be disappointed. God bless you all.