The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Encyclopedia
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist
Oliver Sacks
describing the case histories of some of his patients. The title of the book comes from the case study
of a man with visual agnosia
. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat became the basis of an opera of the same name
by Michael Nyman
, which premiered in 1986.
The book comprises 24 essays split into 4 sections which each deal with a particular aspect of brain function such as deficits and excesses in the first two sections (with particular emphasis on the right hemisphere of the brain) while the third and fourth describe phenomenological manifestations with reference to spontaneous reminiscences, altered perceptions, and extraordinary qualities of mind found in retardates.
was first produced by the Institute of Contemporary Arts
in London in 1986.
A television version of the opera was subsequently broadcast in the UK.
Peter Brook adapted Sacks's book into an acclaimed theatrical production, L'Homme Qui..., which premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, in 1993.
An Indian theatre company, performed a play The Blue Mug, based on the book, starring Rajat Kapoor
, Konkona Sen Sharma
, Ranvir Shorey
and Vinay Pathak
.
A man with Anterograde memory loss named Jimmy G. is the subject of one chapter, sharing the name of a character in Memento, a movie where the main protagonist has the same defect.
The Man Who
, an album by the Scottish
indie pop
band Travis
named after this book.
In the 2009 claymation film Mary and Max
the title character Mary is studying neurological disorders while attending college. She can be seen reading the book on a park bench during a later scene in the movie.
In the 2011 Stephen King
novel "11/22/63
", it is mentioned that Jake was not "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", but rather, "The Man Who Thought He Was In 1958".
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist...
describing the case histories of some of his patients. The title of the book comes from the case study
Case study
A case study is an intensive analysis of an individual unit stressing developmental factors in relation to context. The case study is common in social sciences and life sciences. Case studies may be descriptive or explanatory. The latter type is used to explore causation in order to find...
of a man with visual agnosia
Visual agnosia
Visual agnosia is the inability of the brain to make sense of or make use of some part of otherwise normal visual stimulus and is typified by the inability to recognize familiar objects or faces...
. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat became the basis of an opera of the same name
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a one-act chamber opera by Michael Nyman to an English-language libretto by Christopher Rawlence, adapted from the case study of the same name by Oliver Sacks by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris...
by Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
, which premiered in 1986.
The book comprises 24 essays split into 4 sections which each deal with a particular aspect of brain function such as deficits and excesses in the first two sections (with particular emphasis on the right hemisphere of the brain) while the third and fourth describe phenomenological manifestations with reference to spontaneous reminiscences, altered perceptions, and extraordinary qualities of mind found in retardates.
Content
The individual essays in this book include, but are not limited to:- "The Lost Mariner," about Jimmie G., who has lost the ability to form new memoriesShort-term memoryShort-term memory is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. The duration of short-term memory is believed to be in the order of seconds. A commonly cited capacity is 7 ± 2 elements...
due to Korsakoff's syndromeKorsakoff's syndromeKorsakoff's syndrome is a neurological disorder caused by the lack of thiamine in the brain. Its onset is linked to chronic alcohol abuse and/or severe malnutrition...
. He can remember nothing of his life since the end of World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, including events that happened only a few minutes ago. He believes it is still 1945 (in the late 70s and early 80s), and seems to behave as a normal, intelligent young man aside from his inability to remember most of his past and the events of his day-to-day life. He struggles to find meaning, satisfaction, and happiness in the midst of constantly forgetting what he is doing from one moment to the next. - "The President's Speech," about a ward of aphasiaAphasiaAphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
cs and agnosiaAgnosiaAgnosia is a loss of ability to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells while the specific sense is not defective nor is there any significant memory loss...
cs listening to a speech given by an unnamed actor-president, "the old Charmer," presumably Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Many in the first group were laughing at the speech, and Sacks claims their laughter to be at the president's facial expressionFacial expressionA facial expression one or more motions or positions of the muscles in the skin. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among humans, but also occur...
s and tone, which they find "not genuine." One woman in the latter group criticizes the structure of the president's sentences, stating that he "does not speak good prose." - "The Disembodied Lady," a unique case of a woman losing her entire sense of proprioceptionProprioceptionProprioception , from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception, is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement...
(the sense of the position of parts of the body, relative to other neighbouring parts of the body). - "On the Level," another case involving damaged proprioception. Dr. Sacks interviews a patient who has trouble walking upright and discovers that he has lost his innate sense of balanceEquilibrioceptionEquilibrioception or sense of balance is one of the physiological senses. It helps prevent humans and animals from falling over when walking or standing still. Balance is the result of a number of body systems working together: the eyes , ears and the body's sense of where it is in space ideally...
due to Parkinson'sParkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
-like symptoms that have damaged his inner ears; the patient, comparing his sense of balance to a carpenter's spirit levelSpirit levelA spirit level or bubble level is an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface ishorizontal or vertical . Different types of spirit levels may be used by carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, surveyors, millwrights and other metalworkers, and in some...
, suggests the construction of a similar level inside a pair of glasses, which enables him to judge his balance by sight. - "The Twins," about autistic savants. Dr. Sacks meets twin brothers who can neither read nor perform multiplication, yet are playing a "game" of finding very large prime numberPrime numberA prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
s. While the twins were able to spontaneously generate these numbers, from six to twenty digits, Sacks had to resort to a book of prime numbers to join in with them. This was used in the film House of CardsHouse of Cards (1993 film)House of Cards is a 1993 drama film directed by Michael Lessac and starring Kathleen Turner and Tommy Lee Jones. It follows the struggle of a mother to reconnect with her daughter who has been traumatized by the death of her father. The film premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival before being...
starring Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
. The twins also instantly count 111 dropped matches, simultaneously remarking that 111 is three 37s. This event, with toothpicks in place of matches, was used in the film Rain ManRain ManRain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son,...
, starring Dustin HoffmanDustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
. This story has been questioned by Makoto YamaguchiMakoto YamaguchiMakoto Yamaguchi has taken an active part in origami as a professional creator after working with the Nippon Origami Association. In 1989, he opened "Gallery Origami House", a venue to showcase the works of origami creators...
, who doubts that a book of large prime numbers could exist as described, and points out that reliable scientific reports only support approximate perception when rapidly counting large numbers of items. Autistic savant Daniel TammetDaniel TammetDaniel Tammet is a British writer. His best selling 2006 memoir, Born On A Blue Day, about his life with high-functioning autism and savant syndrome, was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association.Tammet's second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was named one of...
points out that the twins provided the matchbox and may have counted its contents in advance, noting that he finds the value of 111 to be "particularly beautiful and matchstick-like." - "The Dog Beneath the Skin," concerning a 22-year-old medical student, "Stephen D.", who, after a night under the influence of amphetamines, cocaineCocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, and PCPPhencyclidinePhencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
, wakes to find he has a tremendously heightened sense of smellOlfactionOlfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...
. Many years later, Sacks would reveal that he was, in fact, Stephen D.
In popular culture
Christopher Rawlence wrote the libretto for a chamber opera, directed by Michael Morris with music by Michael Nyman, based on the title story. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a HatThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a one-act chamber opera by Michael Nyman to an English-language libretto by Christopher Rawlence, adapted from the case study of the same name by Oliver Sacks by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris...
was first produced by the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
in London in 1986.
A television version of the opera was subsequently broadcast in the UK.
Peter Brook adapted Sacks's book into an acclaimed theatrical production, L'Homme Qui..., which premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, in 1993.
An Indian theatre company, performed a play The Blue Mug, based on the book, starring Rajat Kapoor
Rajat Kapoor
Rajat Kapoor is an Indian actor, writer and director born in 1961.Kapoor was born in Delhi, India. As a teenager he would watch films with his family and decided to become a filmmaker at the age of 14. He mainly focused on acting at first...
, Konkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
, Ranvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey is an Indian actor and former VJ. Since making his debut in Ek Chotisi Love Story , he has starred in a number of high profile films such as Jism and Lakshya...
and Vinay Pathak
Vinay Pathak
Vinay Pathak is an Indian actor and a theatre person born and raised in Bhojpur, Bihar. He is known for his great Comic timing and as a revolution in Indian Cinema along with Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapur, Abhay Deol, who are tagged as actors of a new genre...
.
A man with Anterograde memory loss named Jimmy G. is the subject of one chapter, sharing the name of a character in Memento, a movie where the main protagonist has the same defect.
The Man Who
The Man Who
The Man Who is the second studio album from the Scottish indie pop band Travis. The album was released on 24 May 1999, becoming the album that gave the band international recognition. The album peaked at #1 in the UK and #8 in Australia. It was later released in the United States in Early 2000...
, an album by the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band Travis
Travis (band)
Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
named after this book.
In the 2009 claymation film Mary and Max
Mary and Max
Mary and Max is a 2009 Australian clay-animated black comedy-drama film written and directed by Adam Elliot and produced by Melanie Coombs. The voice cast included Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana, Bethany Whitmore, with narration by Barry Humphries. The film premiered on the...
the title character Mary is studying neurological disorders while attending college. She can be seen reading the book on a park bench during a later scene in the movie.
In the 2011 Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
novel "11/22/63
11/22/63
11/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the John F. Kennedy assassination which occurred on November 22, 1963 . The novel was officially announced on the author's official site on March 2, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011...
", it is mentioned that Jake was not "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", but rather, "The Man Who Thought He Was In 1958".