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Podcast: New Books in Disability Studies
Episode: Ralph James Savarese, "Classic Novels, Autistic Readers, and the Schooling of a No-Good English Professor" (Duke UP, 2018)
Description: From the earliest days of medical research into autism, both psychologists and the general public have characterised those on the autism spectrum as literal-minded, unimaginative and lacking in empathy. While in recent years a fresh emphasis on neurodiversity has served to sweep aside this kind of reductive thinking, many people still view autistic readers as limited in their capacity to engage with literary texts. In his new book See It Feelingly: Classic Novels, Autistic Readers, and the Schooling of a No-Good English Professor (Duke University Press, 2018), educator and author Ralph James Savarese challenges the notion that autistic readers are...