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

[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.