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''Awakenings'' is a 1973 non-fiction book by
Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks, (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in Britain, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the Uni ...
. It recounts the life histories of those who had been victims of the 1920s
encephalitis lethargica Encephalitis lethargica is an atypical form of encephalitis. Also known as "sleeping sickness" or "sleepy sickness" (distinct from tsetse fly-transmitted sleeping sickness), it was first described in 1917 by neurologist Constantin von Econom ...
epidemic. Sacks chronicles his efforts in the late 1960s to help these patients at the Beth Abraham Hospital (now
Beth Abraham Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Beth Abraham Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing is a medical facility in Bronx, New York, which was founded as the Beth Abraham Home for Incurables. It was originally a long-term residential care facility, but was later expanded to include ...
) in the
Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. The treatment used the new drug
L-DOPA -DOPA, also known as levodopa and -3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, is an amino acid that is made and used as part of the normal biology of some plants and animals, including humans. Humans, as well as a portion of the other animals that utilize -DOPA ...
. In 1982, Sacks wrote: The 1976 edition of the book is dedicated to the memory of Sacks' close friend, poet W. H. Auden, and bears an extract from Auden's 1969 poem ''The Art of Healing'': Prior to his death in 1973, Auden wrote, "Have read the book and think it a masterpiece". In 1974 the book won the Hawthornden Prize.


In popular culture

The book inspired a play, two films, a ballet and an opera: * 1974: the
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
''Awakenings'', produced by Duncan Dallas for
Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
as the first episode and pilot of the British television programme ''
Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...
''. The documentary won a Red Ribbon at the 1978
American Film Festival American Film Festival is a film festival held annually in October in Wrocław, Poland. The first festival was held from 20 to 24 October 2010. The festival is organized by Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty and co-funded by the Wroclaw Municipality a ...
and first prize at the 1978 International Rehabilitation Film Festival. * 1982: the play ''
A Kind of Alaska ''A Kind of Alaska'' is a one-act play written in 1982 by British playwright Harold Pinter. Summary A middle-aged woman named Deborah, who has been in a comatose state for thirty years as a result of contracting "sleepy sickness," encephalitis l ...
'' by
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...
, performed as part of a trilogy of Pinter's plays titled ''Other Places''. * 1990: the Oscar-nominated film ''
Awakenings ''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American drama film directed by Penny Marshall. It is written by Steven Zaillian, who based his screenplay on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir '' Awakenings''. It tells the story of neurologist Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Willia ...
'', starring
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
and
Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...
. * 2010: the ballet ''Awakenings'', composed by Tobias Picker for the
Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...
, and premiered by Rambert in
Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
, UK. * 2022: the opera ''Awakenings'', also composed by Picker, commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, with a libretto by Picker's husband Aryeh Lev Stollman, premiered on 11 June 2022


References


External links

*
Other Places
' – Listed in "Plays" section of haroldpinter.org. Includes photograph of playbill, production details, and retyped performance review by Alan Jenkins, originally published in
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
entitled "The Withering of Love", reproduced with permission. {{Oliver Sacks 1973 non-fiction books 1990 non-fiction books Non-fiction books adapted into films Books by Oliver Sacks Hawthornden Prize-winning works Picador (imprint) books Books about the Bronx