The Body Silent
Anthropologist Robert Murphy's narrative of living with spinal cord disease.
The Body Silent is a personal narrative by Robert Murphy, a Columbia University professor, chronicling his experience with a deteriorating spinal condition that led to paraplegia. Published in 1987 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc., the work applies anthropological analysis to his medical journey, treating his illness as an extended field trip into an unfamiliar social world. It is notable for blending personal struggle with professional self-analysis, offering a detailed account of his physical and mental state.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Robert Murphy
- Publication year
- 1987
- Publisher
- Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
- Author's profession
- Professor of anthropology at Columbia University
- Author's birth date
- March 3, 1924
- Author's birth place
- Far Rockaway, New York
- Author's death date
- Age 66
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- Murphy was diagnosed with a tumor extending from his second cervical vertebra to the eighth thoracic vertebra in 1972.
- His book was conceived in the realization that his long illness was a sojourn in a social world as strange as those of the Amazon forests.
Biography
Robert Murphy was born on March 3, 1924, in Far Rockaway, New York. He became a distinguished anthropologist and professor of anthropology at Columbia University in New York City from the early 1960s to 1990, studying cultures such as the Mundurucu of the Amazon and tribes in the Sahara. In 1928, he lost the use of his leg, diagnosed with "a touch of rheumatism," recovering in two weeks. In 1972, he experienced muscle spasms and urinary trouble, initially diagnosed with an anal fissure. Later, a neurologist found a benign but slowly growing tumor in his upper spinal cord. Within two years, his central nervous system was severely damaged, and he lost control of most bodily functions. He died at age 66 in his home in Leonia, New Jersey.
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