The Voices of Robby Wilde: xiii - Softcover

Elizabeth Kytle, Robert Coles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0820317152 ISBN 13: 9780820317151

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 1995

Synopsis

An engrossing, often disturbing, look into the inner life of a paranoid schizophrenic, The Voices of Robby Wilde has greatly advanced the popular understanding of mental illness since its first publication in 1987. Robby Wilde heard his first "voice" when he was nine years old—a man's voice clearly saying, "I've got you!" With increasing frequency and intensity, such hostile uttering would vex Wilde for the rest of his life, distorting his behavior and shattering his self-esteem. Some ten years before his death at age fifty-three, Wilde asked his friend Elizabeth Kytle to write about his affliction. Ranging in time from Wilde's youth in rural North Carolina to his impoverished last days in Columbus, Ohio, Kytle chronicles the slow unraveling and final breakdown of a life. Different views of Wilde, his illness, and his struggle to live and work as a "normal" person come forth in a series of twice-told tales; accounts based on Wilde's own recollections alternate with sometimes vastly differing reports of the same incidents by friends, family members, coworkers, and others who knew and cared about him. Wilde's story, heightened by his longing to be understood and his acute grasp of his own situation, will challenge readers to new levels of respect and compassion for the mentally ill.

About this title

About the Authors

ELIZABETH KYTLE's books include Willie Mae and The Voices of Robby Wilde (both Georgia).

ROBERT COLES is a professor emeritus at Harvard University and the author of Children of Crisis: A Study of Courage and Fear. His work has won numerous prizes, including a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Humanities Medal.

From the Back Cover

The Voices of Robby Wilde is an engrossing, often disturbing, look at the inner life of a paranoid schizophrenic. Some ten years before his death at age fifty-three, Wilde asked his friend Elizabeth Kytle to write about his affliction. Ranging in time from Wilde's youth in rural North Carolina to his impoverished last days in Columbus, Ohio, Kytle chronicles the slow unravelling and final breakdown of a life. Wilde's story, heightened by his longing to be understood and his acute grasp of his own situation, will challenge readers to new levels of respect and compassion for the mentally ill.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820317152
• ISBN 13: 9780820317151
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344