even then they knew?

[caerfrli]

I just finished a novel written in 1948. One character is described as too shy to come out when people are in the house, as having no friends, as having strange obsessions and as having odd eating habits

Comments

[punkymcmunky]

I'm curious, what was the book?

[nicky_finn]

i second this question.

[kimberkwick]

I feel like, in some very nebulous ways, that people back then were more accepting of personality quirks... Or, at least, they were more polite about it than people are now. Back then, people didn't necessarily have the terminology to ascribe 'diagnoses' or explain whether anything was wrong. It would be worthwhile to see how Aspies (undiagnosed, but suspected) coped 50 - 100 years ago by doing a bit of a literary analysis on the reactions of characters around them.

I recently read two Charles Dickens novels and many of the characters have some very obvious personality quirks that are accepted and occassionally, indulged, by other characters in the books.

[niyabinghi]

Interestingly enough, people were much more accepting of eccentrics all the way back to previous centuries. And Aspergers people have been around since day one, I'm sure, in some form or another.

[caerfrli]

The book is The Case Of William Smith by Patricia Wentworth. It's a mystery and alas, the aspie-like person is a minor villain.