The Secret Garden and Professor Meadow

[steepholm]

Much has been written about The Secret Garden and Froebel, mens sana in corpore sano, and all that jazz, but as I was marking an essay just now, it occurred to me that Archibald Craven may be one of the earliest representations of Münchausen by proxy - more than 65 years before Roy Meadow first described the condition. Has this ever been remarked? (This is not necessarily to weigh in on whether the condition actually exists, of course. Last time I looked, Mr Craven was a fiction, and for all I know his syndrome is too.)

P.S. The perils of the spell checker! One of my students just wrote that The Secret Garden was written by Frames Bennett.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Oh, interesting diagnosis. But perhaps a folie a deux in this case? Colin himself bought into it, fervently. Before Mary got to work on him, he didn't improve when his father was absent (as many of these children do), but kept up the hysterics.

Mind you, Meadow was appallingly overzealous in the Clark case. Yet there are certainly parents who play this sort of sick game, and they have been caught on camera in their children's rooms, putting nasties in their drips. I rather suspect there are quacks who support them--Münchausen by proxy by proxy? Some of the more grandiose "detoxification treatments" for autism have that air about them: brave maverick doctors, heroic parents, desperately unlucky kids.

Nine

Folie a trois?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Indeed, perhaps we should bring in the enigmatic figure of Colin's uncle, Dr Craven - who is torn between duty to his nephew/patient, and the knowledge that he will inherit Misslethwaite should he not survive. (One of things I like about the book is the fact that Burnett refrained the obvious move of making Colin's uncle an out-and-out villain, just as she refrained from making Mrs Medlock a tyrant of Minchinesque proportions. She teases us with those possibilities, only to withhold them.) All three have their reasons for keeping up the charade: Colin because it's the only way he can get attention and power; Dr Craven because it means that he can still dream of an inheritance; and Mr Craven because - well, because of his attack of the Münchies, perhaps, which has its own roots in grief, self-hatred, morbid obsession, etc etc. They are a seriously fucked up family, in short. I don't suppose being called 'Craven' helps much, either.

[sovay]

All three have their reasons for keeping up the charade: Colin because it's the only way he can get attention and power; Dr Craven because it means that he can still dream of an inheritance; and Mr Craven because - well, because of his attack of the Münchies, perhaps, which has its own roots in grief, self-hatred, morbid obsession, etc etc.

For that reason I wouldn't classify it as Münchausen by proxy, first because it's a state of affairs that Colin actively perpetuates until he has a better reason not to, and secondly because it's not as though Archibald is devastated to come home to a tall race-winner who almost knocks him off his feet; it's just been easier for him all these years to have a child he never has to see, because then he doesn't have to deal with any of the fucked-up etc. (and it may be easier for him to believe in an incurable invalid, because then if the boy does die, like his mother, at least it's a blow Archibald has been preparing himself for).

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I'm not too bothered about Colin perpetuating things. He's been told all his life that he's going to die young: why would he question that, rather than trying to make the (admittedly morbid) best of a bad situation? But I do take your point about Mr Craven not being sorry to see his son cured - and in general he probably exhibits far less interest in "the case" than the classic MbP.

[gair.livejournal.com]

I like that.

Also, we watched the Agnieszka Holland movie last night for the first time. We thought it was good.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like it too. I had to watch four different versions recently for work reasons, and I think that was my favourite overall. My one big beef was that substituting an earthquake for the cholera made Mary's parents seem far less irresponsible than they were in the book.

[sovay]

I had to watch four different versions recently for work reasons, and I think that was my favourite overall.

It took me years to realize that I had not, as I thought, discovered Derek Jacobi with I, Claudius in high school; I had seen him years before as Archibald Craven in a television adaptation of The Secret Garden from 1987. It had a very odd frame, post-World War I. I've always wanted to see it again, just to find out if it was any good.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I actually have that on VHS - you're welcome to it, if you'd like! (I can't play it easily as it's in a North American format.) Not only is Derek Jacobi Mr Craven, but the grown-up Colin is played by a very young Colin Firth. Dickon, somewhat inevitably, falls victim to the guns of the Somme.