The Frost King 5807208 219835956 2008-06-17T02:16:21Z Graham87 194203 swap see also and references sections '''''The Frost King''''' was a short story written by [[Helen Keller]] at the age of twelve, in [[1892]]. Keller's story has similarities to an older story, Margaret Canby's "Frost Fairies", with which Keller may have been familiar. As a result, there was an implication of [[plagiarism]] on the part of Keller or that of her teacher, [[Anne Sullivan]]. ==The story== Anne Sullivan often described detailed visual and auditory impressions to Keller. When Sullivan mentioned that the autumn leaves were "painted ruby, emerald, gold, crimson, and brown", Keller, then twelve, supposedly imagined [[fairies]] doing the work, and wrote a story about how [[Jack Frost]] came up with the idea when a cask of jewels his fairy servants were transporting melted in the sun and covered the leaves [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/part-III.html#Style]. She sent the story to [[Michael Anagnos]], head of the [[Perkins School for the Blind]], as a birthday gift. He had it published in the Perkins annual report, accompanied by his own lushly written endorsement of Keller's talents, and it was picked up by two other journals on deaf-blind education. A reader wrote in that Keller's story was a reproduction of [[Margaret Canby]]'s story "Frost Fairies", from her book ''Birdie and His Fairy Friends''. Keller insisted that she had no memory of having read the book or having had it read to her, but passages in her letters from the period, which she describes as "dreams", strongly resemble other episodes in the book [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/part-III.html#Style]. It was declared that in 1888, while Sullivan was on vacation, her mentor Sophia Hopkins had charge of the then eight-year-old Keller, and had read the book to her through [[finger spelling]]. Keller stated that she remembered nothing of this and that she was devastated that people she had loved and trusted would accuse her of lying {{fact|date=June 2008}}. A storm of outrage swept through the school, apparently headed by the teachers. Some suggest that they were also incensed by the fact that Sullivan and Keller used the facilities although they were neither employed by nor officially registered with the school. An in-house "trial" ensued to determine whether or not Sullivan had deliberately falsified Keller's abilities; eight teachers interrogated the twelve-year-old child for two hours and fought the issue to a draw, the tie-breaking vote being cast by Anagnos in Keller's favor. Although Sullivan protested that "all use of language is imitative, and one's style is made up of all other styles that one has met," and even Margaret Canby came forward to say that Keller's version was superior to her own<ref>"What a wonderfully active and retentive mind that gifted child must have! If she had remembered and written down accurately, a short story, and that soon after hearing it, it would have been a marvel; but to have heard the story once, three years ago, and in such a way that neither her parents nor teacher could ever allude to it or refresh her memory about it, and then to have been able to reproduce it so vividly, even adding some touches of her own in perfect keeping with the rest, which really improve the original, is something that very few girls of riper age, and with every advantage of sight, hearing, and even great talents for composition, could have done as well, if at all." Margaret Canby, quoted by John A. Macy, in [http://www.afb.org/mylife/book.asp?ch=P3Ch5 Literary Style], supplemental chapter to Keller's ''Story of My Life'', entire text online and found 2008-03-07</ref>, Anagnos never regained his faith in Sullivan or Keller and described them years later as "a living lie". Keller had a [[nervous breakdown]] over the incident, and never wrote fiction again. ==Controversy== In his book ''Helen and Teacher'', Joseph P. Lash reports researching into the Perkins archives and finding an anonymous document called "Miss Sullivan's Methods". It consists of an analysis of letters written by Sullivan and Keller around the time of the Frost King incident. Many of these letters contain paraphrases of Canby's writing, as well as verbatim passages. Keller and Sullivan cited some of these in their own explanation of what happened, and Sullivan stated several times that Keller's writings at that time often contained extensive paraphrases of what she'd read or had read to her. Lash believes that the author of the document was trying to prove that Sullivan, not Mrs. Hopkins, had read ''Birdie and his fairy friends'' to Keller, and had done so that same autumn, not four years previously. He concludes that if this was the case: * Keller wrote ''The Frost King'' as another one of her paraphrased stories, similar to what she'd been writing in her letters of the period. * Sullivan, who always checked Keller's writings before allowing them to be mailed, would have recognized ''The Frost King'' as a paraphrase, but considering it to be sufficiently original, passed it on as Keller's own work. * Sullivan may not have understood what plagiarism is. * When Keller was accused, Sullivan attempted a coverup, denying she had read the ''Birdie'' stories and impressing upon Keller the importance of stating that Mrs. Hopkins had read her the stories years before. ==See also== *[[Plagiarism]] *[[Cryptomnesia]] ==References== <references/> ==External links== * [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/biography/StoryofMyLife/chap44.html The Frost King] Entire story with explanations and background information by John A. Macy, Anne Sullivan, and Helen Keller. * [http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?030616crat_atlarge What Helen Saw] ''New Yorker'' article discussing Helen's life and accusations of plagiarism and coaching throughout her life. * [http://www.michaelberube.com/essays/pdf/keller.nat.pdf Written in Memory] [[2003]] ''Nation'' article discussing Helen's acquisition of language and the significance of the Frost King incident, on the publication of a new edition of ''The Story of My Life''. (PDF file) * [http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=1&TopicID=193&SubTopicID=22 Mark Twain's Letter] The famous statement that nearly all human expression is a form of plagiarism, written to Keller in [[1903]] after the publication of ''The Story Of My Life''. Keller faced similar charges after the publication of this book. Some critics alleged that John Macy had written the book and passed it off as Keller's work. [[Category:1892 short stories|Frost King, The]]