Dans la peau d’un aveugle – l’étrange cécité de John Howard Griffin. Première partie : devenir, être aveugle

Abstract

John Howard Griffin (1920–1980) achieved fame after publishing his best-selling Black Like Me. In that book, he recounts how in late 1959 he deliberately changed his physical appearance in order pass as an African-American and travel in the segregated South. Prior to this deliberate simulation, Griffin was blind for a decade. We will review his own account of his blindness, including its causes (a wartime injury) and its course over time, but also challenge it in light of various records, including his military discharge papers, his journal and his correspondence. A dubious episode of regressive of spinal cord paraplegia is also noted.