Robert Panara Deaf Characters in Literature Collection in archives (RITDSA.0032). Some titles are available as duplicates; I just included one title. Many of these titles are also available in our circulating collections.
Box 1
Novels-Fiction
Andrew, Prudence H. 1961. Ordeal by Silence. New York, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Ayrton, Elisabeth. 1964. Silence in Crete. New York, New York: William Morrow & Company.
Bowden, Edwin T. 1961. The Dungeon of the Heart. New York, New York: MacMillan.
History and criticism (social isolation) in literature.
Crews, Harry. 1974. The Gypsy’s Curse. New York, New York: Knopf.
Southern gothic fiction. Marvin has no use of his legs, is deaf, and is involved in a murder.
Deaver, Jeffery. 1995. A Maiden’s Grave, New York, New York: Viking. The film adaptation is Dead Silence (might be in Newby Ely's collection RITDSA-0037). Mystery, thriller & suspense. On a lonely highway in Kansas, eight young deaf girls and their teachers are taken hostage by three escaped killers and are holed up in a slaughterhouse. They kill one girl and threaten to kill the rest if their demands are not met. The 12-hour siege by the FBI becomes a media circus exploited by politicians and competing police departments.
Field, Rachel. 1945. And Now Tomorrow. New York, New York: The Macmillan Company. Film adaptation available via Amazon. Movie posters from Newby Ely's collection RITDSA-0037 are available. Fiction. Romance. A New England mill town is the story scene in which Emily Blair is one of the family members who control the mills. She is engaged to Harry Collins, and life is smooth until an illness leaves her deaf. A young doctor restores her hearing and brings a new love into her life.
Greenberg. Joanne. 1970. In This Sign. New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. Novel. The film adaptation is Love is Never Silent (in Panara and our circulating collection). It may also be in Newby Ely's collection link above. The highly acclaimed novel of a family whose love and courage enable them to survive in the silent world of the deaf.
Goulet, John. 1975. Oh’s Profit. New York, New York: William Morrow and Company. Satire. Fiction.
Auto/Bios
Ashley, Jack, MP. 1973. Journey into Silence. London: The Bodley Head Ltd.
Anecdotes from Jack Ashley, autobiographical.
Bennett, Hester Parsons. 1973. Road Girl. Long Beach, California: Collins Printing.
Autobiography of travel in Polynesia.
Bowe, Frank and Sternberg, Martin. 1973. I’m Deaf Too: 12 Deaf Americans. Silver Spring, Maryland: National Association of the Deaf.
Biographies
Brooks, Greg. 1976. The Cracked Tune. Torrance, California: AFP Publications.
Writings on deafness from 1971-1976.
Chagall, David. 1970. Diary of a Deaf Mute. Plymouth, Great Britain: Clarke, Doble & Brendon Ltd. Fiction.
Davidson, Margaret. 1965. Helen Keller’s Teacher. Illustrated by Blickenstagg, Wayne. New York, New York: Scholastic Book Services. Juvenile literature
Biography.
Costain, Thomas B.. 1960. The Chord of Steel. New York, New York: Doubleday & Company. Permabook Edition. Fictionalized biography.
Dinesen, Isak. 1938. Out of Africa. New York, New York: Random House. Autobiography. Film adaptation is available (not in our collection, but maybe in Newby Ely's collection).
Dinesen, whose real name is Karen Blixen, tells her story of the 17 years she ran a coffee farm in Kenya, Africa.
Gallaudet College. 1957. Nineteenth Century Humanitarian. Kendall Green, Washington D.C.: Gallaudet Press.
Goldstein, Martin M. 1989. Deaf Canadians: An Insight. Calgary. Alberta, Canada: CAL / OKA Printing.
Biographies.
Mysteries
Biggle, Lloyd, Jr. 1977. Silence is Deadly. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company Inc.
Dexter, Colin. 1977.
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn. New York, New York: St. Martin’s Press. (The film adaptation is not in our collection; it may be in Newby Ely's collection)
Advocacy
Bowe, Frank. 1986. Changing the Rules. Silver Spring, Maryland: T.J. Publishers Inc. Autobiography.
Plays
Bragg, Bernard, and Bergman, Eugene. 1981. Tales from a Clubroom. Kendall Green, Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet College Press. (See Lights On Theatre RITDSA.0002 for info on the play; a video of the play is available.)
Children's Books and Juvenile LIterature
Cable, Mildred, and French, Francesca. 1937. The Story of Topsy. London, Great Britain: Hodder and Stroughton Ltd. Juvenile literature biography.
Cole, Sheila R.. 1974/ Meaning Well, Illustrated by Paul Raynor. New York, New York: Franklin Watts, Inc.
Juvenile fiction. A sixth-grader learns the meaning of friendship too late to help a classmate who desperately needs a friend.
Corcoran, Barbara. 1974. A Dance to Still Music, Illustrated by Charles Robinson. New York: Atheneum. Juvenile fiction.
Short Stories
Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories: From Household Worlds and All the Year Round. New York, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Fiction.
Box 2
Novels and Fiction
Huxley, Aldous. 1937. Chrome Yellow. Garden City, New York: The Sun Dial Press, Inc. Science fiction classic. The first novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1921, is a social satire of the British literati in the period following World War I. Crome Yellow revolves around the unfortunate love affair of Denis Stone, a sensitive poet, and Anne Wimbush. Her uncle, Henry Wimbush, hosts a party at his country estate, Crome Yellow, that brings together a humorous coterie of characters.
Kennedy, Margret. 1964. Not in the Calendar. New York, New York: Center for Urban Education. Fiction.
Marlowe, Stephen. 1972. Colossus: A Novel about a World Gone Mad. New York, New York: The Macmillan Company.
Fictionalized biography about Goya, a deaf artist.
Monsarrat, Nicholas. 1953. The Story of Esther Costello. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf (film adaptation available in Newby Ely's collection). Fiction.
In a small Irish village, young Esther Costello, a victim of a tragic accident that has left her deaf, dumb, and blind, is kept barely alive by hardhearted parents. Discovered by a wellmeaning American tourist, who is appalled by Esther's shocking condition, she is whisked away to America for treatment. However, all the advances of American medicine cannot bring about a cure, and with unceasing devotion, her patron decides to devote her life to Esther's care. However, a nationwide campaign to raise public awareness eventually results in donations being diverted to the woman's account, and in a harrowing twist to the tale, Esther's faculties are restored, with shocking consequences.
McCullers, Carson. 1940. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Co. (DVD available. Fiction.
See the film poster in the Deaf Film Poster Collection. The "Mini"reproduction print of the American film The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (released in the United States in 1968). Also, see Newby Ely's film poster collection there are several international film posters of this title. With the publication of her first novel, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. At its center is the deafmute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small-town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty. Richard Wright praised Carson McCullers for her ability "to rise above the pressures of her environment and embrace white and black humanity in one sweep of apprehension and tenderness." She writes "with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming," said the NEW YORK TIMES. McCullers became an overnight literary sensation, but her novel has endured just as timely and powerful today as when it was first published. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate, endearing best. Press book, Newby Ely collection.
Horror
King, Stephen, 1978. The Stand. Garden City, New York: The Sun Dial Press, Inc (film adaptation not in our collection-might be in Newby Ely's collection). Fantasy/horror novel.
This is how the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts forming the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108yearold Mother Abagail and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man. 1978 Stephen King published The Stand, now considered one of his finest works. However, as it was first published, The Stand was incomplete since more than 150,000 words had been cut from the original manuscript. Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil has been restored to its entirety. The Stand: The Complete And Uncut Edition includes more than five hundred pages of material previously deleted, along with new material that King added as he reworked the manuscript for a new generation. It gives us new characters and endows familiar ones with new depths. It has a new beginning and a new ending. A gripping work emerges with a true epic's scope and moral complexity. For hundreds of thousands of fans who read The Stand in its original version and wanted more, this new edition is Stephen King's gift. Those reading The Stand for the first time will discover a triumphant and eerily plausible work of the imagination that takes on the issues determining our survival.
Mysteries
McBain, Ed. 1960. Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, Inc.
McBain, Ed. 1960. The Heckler. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster
McBain, Ed. 1973. Let’s Hear it from the Deaf Man. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company.
McBain. Ed. 1959. The 87th Precinct. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster.
McBain, Ed. 1965. Doll. Cavaye Place, London: Pan Books.
Morton, Anthony. 1961. Deaf, Dumb & Blonde. Garden City, New York: Alfred A. Knopf
Education
Hall, Edward T. 1959. Silent Language. Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett World Library.
Intercultural communication. Leading anthropologist Hall analyzes the many aspects of nonverbal communication and considers the concepts of space and time as tools for transmitting messages. His stimulating work is of interest to both the general reader and the sophisticated social scientist.
Kohl, Herbert R. Language and Education of the Deaf. New York, New York: Center for Urban Education.
Plays
Ionesco, Eugene. 1958. Four Plays by Eugene Ionesco. New York, New York: The MacMillan Company..
Medoff, Mark. 1980. Children of a Lesser God: a play in two acts. Clifton, New Jersey: James T. White and Co. (film adaptation available). The film poster is available in the Deaf Film Poster, "Mini"reproduction print of the American film "Children of a Lesser God" (released in the United States in 1986). This love story is based on the hit Broadway play about John Leeds, an idealistic special education teacher, and a headstrong deaf girl named Sarah. See also Newby Ely's film poster collection, which has several international renditions of this title. Press book, Newby Ely collection
Law
Lowell J. Myers, J.D..1964. The Law and the Deaf. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Vocational Rehabilitation Administration Co.
Deaf lawyer discusses the legal status of the Deaf.
Box 3
Novels/Fiction
Richards, Judith. 1977. The Sounds of Silence. New York, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Fiction.
Aramenta Lee’s peaceful émigré life in Paris is shattered by a terse wire summoning her home: AM DYING COME HOME MOTHER. Reluctantly returning to the great family mansion in Mobile, she remembers her willful, manipulative mother who had driven one daughter and a son to miserable, untimely deaths. Only Aramenta had escaped through a happy marriage to Lt. James Darcy. But when James died overseas in combat and Aramenta lost their baby at birth, she left home for a new life in Paris. The sole heir now to the family fortune, Aramenta determines to sell the mansion, settle the estate, and return to Paris. But she is thwarted. Aramenta seems clutched in the spectral hands of her dead mother – caught in the legal morass of wills and probate, an ambitious attorney, and social pressure. Her young lawyer hires a deafmute handyman, Virgil Wilson, to assist in preparing the 41-room mansion for sale. Virgil is intelligent and perceptive but isolated by silence. He yearns for the day when Aramenta will speak to him in the only language he knows, the sign language of the deaf, and dreams that she will favor him with her money. In the subbasement of the old house, Aramenta Lee discovers a family tragedy and her mother's final macabre legacy. She needs help. Aramenta turns in desperation to the deaf handyman, Virgil. Ultimately, Virgil brings about the novel's stirring and triumphant climax as the battle of wills between Aramenta, her son, and Virgil resolves in a gripping, upbeat finale.
Riddell, Florence. 1934. Silent World. New York, New York: J.B. Lippincott Company. Detective mystery. Nicholas Quinn is deaf, so he considers himself lucky to be appointed to the Foreign Examinations Board at Oxford, which designs tests for students of English around the world. But when someone slips cyanide into Nicholas's sherry, Inspector Morse has a multiplechoice murder. Any one of a tight little group of academics could have killed Quinn. Before Morse is done, all their dirty little secrets will be exposed. And a murderer will be cramming for his finals.
Salinger J.D.. 1945. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company. Bantam Books. Fiction.
To escape the hypocrisies of life at his boarding school, sixteenyearold Holden Caulfield seeks refuge in New York City.
Singleton, Ralph H. 1962. Two and Twenty. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Fiction.
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. 1963. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York, New York: Bantam Books. Fiction.
One of the most chilling novels ever written about the oppression of totalitarian regimesand the first to open Western eyes to the terrors of Stalin's prison camps, this book allowed Solzhenitsyn, who later became Russia's conscience in exile, to challenge the brutal might of the Soviet Union.
Steel, Danielle. 1982. Once in a Lifetime. New York, New York: Dell Publishing. Fiction. Film adaptation is not in our collection. It might be in Newby Ely's collection
Trevor, William. 1969. Mrs. Eckdorf in O’Neill’s Hotel. New York, New York: The Viking Press. Fiction.
What tragedy turned O'Neill's hotel from a plush establishment into a dingy house of disrepute? Ivy Eckdorf is determined to find out. A professional photographer, she has come to Dublin convinced that a tragic and beautiful tale lies behind the facade of this crumbling hotel.
Van Slyke, Helen. 1977. Always is not Forever, New York, New York.: Popular Library. Fiction romance.
Lovely young Susan Langdon thought she knew what she was doing when she married worldfamous concert pianist Richard Antonini. She knew about the many women whom this handsome, incredibly gifted musical genius numbered among his conquests. She knew about his celebrated closeknit family…his ravenously possessive mother…his jetpaced world of dazzling glamor and glittering sophistication…, and his passionate dedication to his career. But she also knew—or thought she knew—Richard, her Richard, the Richard she adored and gave up her career for. Here is an unforgettable novel about a woman who took on more than she ever counted on when she surrendered to love—and fought against every hearttearing odd as she found out what marriage meant.
Williams, Joan. 1961. The Morning and the Evening. New York, New York: Dell Publishing Company. Novel.
It tells the story of Jake Darby, mute and, to most of his fellow townspeople, "not quite right in the head". At age forty, he is as innocent and trusting as a child. When his mother, with whom he has lived in a rundown farmhouse, dies, Jake is left at the mercy of the people of Marigold, and the tragic nature of what ensues forms the heart of this moving novel. The Morning and the Evening is a work of unusual maturity, warmth, and vision. Joan Williams' unerring understanding of human emotions of our stumbling, groping search for love in a world that can be unspeakably cruel gives this novel its power and resonance.
Wojciechowska, Maia. 1968. A Single Light. New York, New York: Bantam Pathfinder Editions. Juvenile fiction. Film adaptation might be in Newby Ely's collection
Auto/Bios
Tidyman, Ernest. 1974. Dummy. Boston, Massachusetts: Little Brown. Film adaptation in our collection.
Legal issues involving the deaf. This is about Donald Lang, a deaf-mute, and the complexities involved with his murder trial, as he did not know sign language and was not able to read or write.
Toole, Darlene. 1980. Courageous Deaf Adults. Beaverton, Oregon: Dormac.
Toole, Darlene. 1979. Successful Deaf Americans. Beaverton, Oregon: Dormac.
Whitestone, Heather. 1997. Listening with my Heart. New York, New York: Doubleday.
Miss America.
Mysteries
Queen, Ellery. 1933. Dury Lane’s Last Case. New York, New York: Barnaby Ross. Published by arrangement with Little, Brown Company.
A thin envelope worth a man's life. A shattered display case whose stolen contents a thief replaced with a strange manuscript. The murder symbol: 3HS wM . . . the queer cipher found to be an old mark of death. These are, but a few of the baffling signs Drury Lane follows down a path of deception and murder to one of the most startling climaxes in mystery fiction.
Queen, Ellery. 1959. The XYZ Murders. Philadelphia, New York: J.B. Lippincott. Book Club Edition.
Steward, Dwight. 1973. The Acupuncture Murders. New York, New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.
Sampson Trehune, deaf since childhood, is to be the second patient to receive acupuncture therapy as a demonstration. The first patient recovers from his paralyzed condition, only to die moments later.
Yankowitz, Susan. 1976. Silent Witness. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Attorney Tony Lord left his hometown and the bitter memories of his girlfriend's murder behind. Now, twenty-eight years later, he's pulled back to Lake City to defend his closest high school friend against a charge of homicide. Sam Robb, the married father of two, is a local football legend. But he was also the last to see sixteen year old Marcie Calder alive, and as shocking forensic evidence at the trial reveals, he is the father of her unborn child. Probing the darkest recesses of love and friendship, Lord will discover things too disturbing to ignorethat Sam wasn't the only one in Lake City with a motive for killing Marcie, that smalltown secrets can hide devastating betrayals, and that the past has a way of repeating itself . . . even in murder.
Plays-not sure if there are deaf characters
Shakespeare, William. 1968. Macbeth. New York, New York: Pocket Books.
Wilder, Thorton. 1968. Our Town, a Play in Three Acts. New York, New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
Children's Books or Juvenile LIterature
Norris, Carolyn Brimley. 1978. Island of Silence. Eureka, California: Alinda Press.
It is a novel with two deaf characters and a hearing heroine.
Norris, Carolyn Brimley. 1981. Signs Unseen, Sounds Unheard. Eureka, California: Alinda Press.
Robinson, Veronica. 1966. David in Silence. Philadelphia, New York: J.B. Lippincott.
Rosen, Lillian. 1981. Just Like Everybody Else. New York, N.Y..: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers.
Fifteenyearold Jenny struggles to resume a normal life following an accident that leaves her deaf.
Short Stories
Peden, William. 1960. Twenty-Nine Stories. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin
Welty, Eudora. Selected Stories of Eudora Welty: Containing All of a Curtain of Green and Other Stories. New York, New York: The Modern Library.
The Key is about a deaf couple who travel to Niagara Falls.
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