The Forbidden Experiment - by Roger Shattuck (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The true story of the nineteenth century's so-called "Wild Boy of Aveyron"--an abandoned French child who lived for years alone in the wilderness before being brought under the care of an innovative young physician.

"Before dawn on January 8, 1800, a remarkable creature came out of the woods near the village of Saint-Sernin in southern France..."

So begins Roger Shattuck's book about the Wild Boy of Aveyron--a child tragically abandoned by his caretakers and captured years later while scavenging food from a local garden. The Wild Boy could not speak, refused all clothing, and repeatedly tried to escape from captivity. Sent to the National Institute for the Deaf in Paris and declared a hopeless case, he was left to run wild until, one day, a medical student arrived on the scene.

Jean Itard, young and from the provinces, began spending time with the boy and imagining ways to help him. He hired a woman named Guérin to care for him and gradually introduced him to social interaction, engaging his senses and imagination with games, toys, and other forms of training. For a while Victor (as Itard named him) made progress, but by 1805 their sessions together had reached an impasse. Victor died in obscurity, still cared for by Madame Guérin, in 1828.

The Forbidden Experiment tells the story of a troubled young man and the extraordinary doctor who tried, however imperfectly, to help him. It is also, in Shattuck's thoughtful, accessible, and compassionate prose, a book that explores essential questions about the human condition. What separates us from animals? What is language, and how do we acquire it? Can children who have been neglected or abused learn to trust the world?

First published in 1980--and inspired by François Truffaut's film The Wild Child--The Forbidden Experiment is now back in print for the first time in more than a decade.

Review Quotes

"Roger Shattuck's The Forbidden Experiment is a marvelous book. I am delighted to learn it is being revived; it should never have been out of print." --Oliver Sacks

"A beautiful story . . . we feel grateful to Shattuck for telling it so well." --Robert Darnton, The New York Review of Books

"Beautiful . . . a resonant story . . . the mystery will always be there, but on it Shattuck shines a warm and clarifying light." --The Boston Globe

"Roger Shattuck has done a beautiful job of recreating the story, skillfully using a wealth of known documents and discovering a few new ones. Although there have been other good books about the wild child, Mr. Shattuck's has the merits of conciseness, humanity, and just enough detachment." --H. E. Gruber, The New York Times Book Review

"A touching story, told with insight and compassion . . . evokes the theme and myth, the fantasy of the flight from society, not only to the woods but deeper into the self." --Los Angeles Times

"Shattuck's sensitive, balanced, and reflective study . . . bring[s] exactly before us what was before Itard--the unnerving claim of Victor's human face." --Clifford Geertz, The New Republic

"The doctor considered the experiment a failure; yet he was a pioneer in what is today called special education, and many of his techniques were adopted by Maria Montessori. . . . The detailed discussions of Victor's behavior and training are fascinating." --H. H. Flowers, The Horn Book

"Erudite, but never showy, [Shattuck] pieces the full story together, places it in scientific and social contexts and animates his narrative with lively asides. . . . Its appeal lies in the universal dream of escape from the responsibilities of civilized life to a simpler, freer existence. . . . Shattuck's careful reconstruction of the experience--with the twentieth century's perspective on psychology, history, philosophy, and linguistics--adds a rich new chapter to the endlessly interesting debate about nature versus nuture." --Jean Strouse, Newsweek

About the Author

Roger Shattuck (1923-2005) was a scholar and writer who authored nearly a dozen books of nonfiction and literary criticism, including a history of the avant-garde in France and a biography of Proust, the latter of which won the National Book Award in 1975.

Jed Perl is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and the author of several books of art criticism, most recently Authority and Freedom.