Curious Controversy

          At last we come to the namesake of this blog: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.  As with the last time I read it, I couldn't seem to put it down for very long at a stretch, finishing it in less than twenty-four hours.  (It feels good to be a bit ahead in this class for once, I must say.)  There's something about this little book that sucks you in and doesn't let you go, like the black holes the main character discusses in one chapter.  It is also a book that has stirred up quite a bit of controversy and internet discussion since its publication
          Our theme for this week is "alternate cognitions," and it is the "alternate cognition" of the main character in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time that has sparked such vehement argument.  The lead is a fifteen-year-old boy named Christopher from the small town of Swindon, England.  It is never stated outright within the text itself, but Christopher shows many symptoms of autism or Asperger's syndrome.  He has an intense interest in science and mathematics to the exclusion of almost all else, is unable to process subtle nonverbal cues, and has many peculiar routines and habits that he must stick to, such as avoiding all things yellow and brown.
          However, the author himself has neither disorder, and therein lies the rub for many people.  These readers say he cannot possibly get inside the head of a person with autism or Asperger's and it is demeaning to try.  Readers who are themselves autistic or who have Asperger's are divided on the verisimilitude of Christopher's actions and thought processes as presented in the novel:  some say that they relate very closely with Christopher, others joining the earlier-mentioned camp who think his presentation is overly-simplified and an affront to people with autism-spectrum disorders.
         It is interesting to me that people can be so deeply divided over the presentation of mental disorders such as autism in fiction.  We have "alternate cognitions" about "alternate cognitions," as it were.  I wonder if something similar would happen if someone who has an autism-spectrum disorder were to write a novel with an autistic main character.  Would similar reactions arise from those who don't share the same symptoms, accusing the author of not being "really" autistic?  Will the literary world ever see something like "The Yellow Wallpaper" for autism?   It's difficult to say, as we have so far to go to fully understand the neurotypical brain.