My rather idiosyncratic opinion...
That Dr James Miranda Barry would have wished to be remembered for outstanding achievement in the fields of medicine, surgery, and sanitary and hygienic reform.
That if, by some miracle, Barry were to be transported into the present day, I think the things that would be arousing the famed incandescent fury would be things like anti-vaxxers ('they've eradicated smallpox and people are wilfully refusing to prevent measles??!!') and advanced societies unable to guarantee a clean water supply to all citizens, that sort of thing.
And that Wakefield would find himself in receipt of challenges, if not Barry, with a sword, on his doorstep.
We doubt, however, that however remarkable, without some additional cause of interest, a pioneering doctor and sanitary reformer would have generated over a period of several decades a number of novels and biographies (going back at least to 1932). This entry was originally posted at https://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2884981.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
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