Waite and Asperger's Syndrome???

[Teheuti]

I've been reading the novel House Rules by Jodi Picoult (some agree with her characterization of AS and others don't) and found myself hearing Waite's voice (as portrayed in his books) as I read the 1st person accounts of the character, Jacob, with high-functioning Asperger's. I certainly don't know much about the subject, but here are a few possible characteristics: Waite's photographic memory, precision of vocabulary (if you don't understand a word, look it up, it's probably the most exact word you can find for what he means to say), close observation & obsessive attention to detail, literalness, lack of a sense of humor, and tendency to make lists to make sure (and demonstrate) that he's covered all known options. Plus, he seemed to have difficulty making and keeping friends because of a seeming rudeness.

Some say there is a lack of imagination in Asperger's, but you'll find lists on the web of plenty of artists, poets and inventors who are believed to have (or have had) high-functioning AS.

If anyone has a good knowledge of the syndrome and can stand to read several of Waite's books to get a true sense of what I'm talking about, then I'd appreciate hearing what you think.

 

[Richard]

That's an interesting theory. High-functioning AS certainly seems to fit. I can read only a few paragraphs of Waite at a time. Sometimes I'll skim over several pages looking for some piece of information. I don't have the patience to cope with his writing style.

 

[Teheuti]

Just saw another comment in the book that made me think of Waite: Asperger's is sometimes called "the little Professor" syndrome, because AS people learn everything they can about a particular subject (fixation) and tell everyone else all about it. There's an internal logic to the way they present things. This made me think of the bibliography of tarot books (really just another of his "lists") at the back of PKT. Waite names all the other tarot books and tells us (thankfully briefly) what is wrong with them. It makes perfect sense from this pov. Added: . . . lacks empathy.

But, I hope someone else with more knowledge about AS will speak up. Is this really a possibility, do you think?

 

[Teheuti]

That's an interesting theory. High-functioning AS certainly seems to fit. I can read only a few paragraphs of Waite at a time.

LRichard - I certainly agree about reading Waite. I do it in small batches, but keep coming back for more. He actually has a lot to say—although everything focuses obsessively around a single theme [the Secret Tradition], and ultimately doesn't get to a satisfying conclusion but keeps circling around - or perhaps following a point of logic and then fizzling out in a place where language can no longer go (which is why he characterized his work as mystical).

Anyway, are you saying you know something about AS but not enough about Waite? Thanks for responding.

 

[Richard]

.....Anyway, are you saying you know something about AS but not enough about Waite? Thanks for responding.

A cousin of mine has AS, but I don't know much about it.

 

[lucifall]

Hi Mary,
Really an interesting Theory. I love Waite's texts, but too much a time, is too much...

This week I saw two video's of a 12 year old boy with asperger.
These are two video's Jacob with AS.
A boy which has the intent to disprove the Big Bang Theory of Einstein. This might be a future Nobel-price winner.

From:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index...y-genius-sets-out-to-disprove-big-bang-theory
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...r-IQ-Einstein-develops-theory-relativity.html

Video's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFmrlIEpJOE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2A7BlKbZlM&feature=player_embedded

When I see this boy teaching lessons in Calculus 2, and lessons about Death, one might think it is comparable with Waite's writing style.
Monotone, humorless, precission, exact, and for "others" difficult to understand, or to absorb. In the meantime, "they" know exactly, without, any doubt what they are talking about, and yes, as Waite does, like Mary writes:be sure to cover all options.

I wonder if someone is familiair with the IQ-"score"of Waite?

Luci

 

[Richard]

IQ score may be significant in matters like this, maybe not. The Jury is still out. I would suspect that Waite's was fairly high, as was Crowley's, and maybe that of other people, such as Mathers. I have a high IQ (on tests), but I'm so abominably stupid that I really wonder if it has any significance at all.

 

[Carla]

My son has high function AS. I haven't read the Jodi Picoult novel in question, nor anything much by Edward Waite (I just nipped off to sacred-texts and read an extract from 'Pictorial Key'), but based on that small snippet, I don't find his style any more arcane or opaque than Israel Regardie's. I always assumed it was the style of the time to write this way. I suppose I would need more info about Waite to see if I notice any parallels between his behaviour and my son's. I can say that the best Aspie voice I have read in fiction is Mark Haddon's 'Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'.

 

[Debra]

I echo Carla. (Hi, Carla!)

I too see Waite's writing style as typical of the mystically inclined of the time, just as there's a style for contemporary new age writing. And I was just about to recommend Mark Haddon's 'Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'--it is so interesting to read, and gave me a totally new view on people whose brains are wired a bit differently. I felt enlightened by reading it.

 

[Teheuti]

I always assumed it was the style of the time to write this way.

To some extent that's true (when compared to today's writing), but even authors during his lifetime made fun of his pedantic, self-important style. Actually, PKT is relatively simple and straightforward compared to some of his other works. I have read a lot of 19th century literature and metaphysical writing (having read a great number of Waite's sources). Waite's style definitely stands out as unusual. It is much, much more tedious to read than most. Which is part of my point: it's exaggeratedly pedantic, overly ordered, yet seemingly scattered at the same time. He gathers tons of evidence but never quite gets to the point. Plus, there's his seeming lack of empathy with anyone else's perspective, as he ennumerates all the flaws he finds in their works. All of these are things that people regularly point out as making his writing difficult to endure.

Someone once tried to explain his style as over-compensation for the fact that he was American and fatherless in proper English society. His father was an American sea-captain (never married his mother and died at sea when his mother was pregnant with his sister). Waite was born in the US, but he returned with his British mother to England when he was only two years old, and he had a decent (though not outstanding) education. Excessive over-compensation might be one way to describe his style. Does that also explain his awkward social interactions? At what point do these characteristics cross-over into AS or not?? How do researchers come to conclusions about historical figures?