Reviews

‘This is splendidly written fare from the reliable Poulson, written with keen psychological insight.’ [Invisible]

- CRIMETIME

The Surgeon of Crowthorne

I am working full tilt on the first draft of a new novel and that makes it hard to find time to blog. It also makes it hard to find time to read fiction, or rather, it’s not so much a matter of time, more there is something about being deep in my own narrative that makes me reluctant to muddy the waters by reading someone else’s. During the week, non-fiction is better with fiction being saved for week-ends. Fortunately there is plenty of non-fiction to hand and I’ve very much enjoyed my reading group’s latest choice, THE SURGEON OF CROWTHORNE by Simon Winchester. It is subtitled ‘A Tale of Murder, Madness, and the Love of Books’ and is the extraordinary story of how a convicted murderer played a vital role in the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary. There are a number of remarkable aspects to this, not the least being that it was quite a while before Dr James Murray, editor of the Dictionary, came to realise that his assiduous correspondent, Dr, W. C. Minor, was not, as he had supposed, leading the leisured life of a country gentleman, but was actually banged up in Broadmoor. Minor, an American surgeon who had served in the Civil War had been committed there after shooting dead a labourer in Lambeth in 1872. He was suffering from what would now be diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. Relatively well-off he was allowed to amass a substantial library from which he supplied thousands of quotations recording the context in which entries to the dictionary had been used. The account of how the great dictionary was begun and complied are as fascinating as anything else in the book and it’s a thoroughly good read.

4 Comments

  1. lyn
    May 22, 2011

    Surgeon is a fascinating book. If it was fiction, no one would believe it.

    Reply
  2. Christine
    May 24, 2011

    Yes, it really is one of those examples of truth being stranger than fiction!

    Reply
  3. Sarah
    February 20, 2012

    Such a great article which HE SURGEON OF CROWTHORNE by Simon Winchester. It is subtitled ‘A Tale of Murder, Madness, and the Love of Books’ and is the extraordinary story of how a convicted murderer played a vital role in the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary. In which There are a number of remarkable aspects to this, not the least being that it was quite a while before Dr James Murray. Thanks sharing this article

    Reply
  4. Christine
    February 21, 2012

    Thank you, Sarah. Glad you liked it.

    Reply

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