Il ragazzo selvaggio

by Jean Itard, Giovanni Mariotti (Translator )

Nel 1798, in Alvernia, tre cacciatori catturarono un ragazzo cresciuto in solitudine tra i boschi; qualche tempo più tardi il giovane fu condotto a Parigi. I curiosi della capitale si accalcarono al suo arrivo; credevano di incontrare il Buon Selvaggio di Rousseau; videro un essere in preda alle convulsioni, che mordeva e graffiava chiunque gli si avvicinasse e amava giacere in mezzo ai suoi escrementi. Sarebbe finito nel ricovero degli idioti, se un giovane medico, Jean Itard, non avesse ottenuto di tentarne l'educazione. Nel 1801 e nel 1807 Itard scrisse, su questo tentativo, due relazioni, raccolte in questo volume, che sono tra i testi più affascinanti della psicologia e della pedagogia di tutti i tempi. Nella prima relazione, Itard celebra il lavorio della Civiltà che, attraverso nuovi bisogni, crea nuove idee, con un'enfasi che nella seconda si va smorzando e si spegne. Le certezze dell'educatore vengono incrinate dalle resistenze insormontabili che il suo programma educativo incontra, e dall'ostinato rimpianto che il Selvaggio sembra nutrire per i boschi. Sino a che punto la Civiltà è d'aiuto alla felicità individuale? Questa e altre domande non meno radicali sfiorano pagine in cui si riflette la timidezza, e quasi il rossore, di una nuova scienza: quella dell'uomo.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, France, 19th Century

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1801

Reviews

[Carter Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only for the fact that the experiment can never, ever, ever be repeated, I give it a fiver. However, it is in its own right a well-written, layman friendly documentation of the doctor's attempts to civilize a preteen boy found in the woods of France. Engaging and ultimately bittersweet. Probably much better than a fictionalized version would be...

[Sam]

A couple weeks ago I saw Truffaut's film Wild Child, much of whose script was directly influenced by Jean Itard's journal of the events. I think it will be interesting to read the real thing, though the movie was pretty literal.

[Karl Steel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended; very much out of copyright, and very short, and thus ideal for the classroom.

There exists equally with the savage, the most insulated, as with the citizen raised to the highest point of civilization, an uniform proportion between their ideas and their wants; that their continually increasing multiplicity, in a state of polished society, ought to be regarded as one of the grand instruments for producing the development of the human mind; so that we may be allowed to lay it down as a general proposition, that all the causes, whether accidental, local, or political, which tend to augment or diminish the number of our wants, contribute of necessity to extend or to contract the sphere of our knowledge, and the empire of the sciences, of the fine arts, and of social industry.

Itard's account aims to prove that the wild child, and a fortiori, any citizen can be educated into something better by intermingling them with rational guides to imitate and by compelling them to multiply their wants. Where a wide range of wants are wanting, intelligence does not develop. A better citizenship requires more refined pleasures, whether we're talking about Victor the Wild Child or, by implication, all citizens of the new French Republic. This pedagogical treatise is thus also necessarily a treatise on social engineering, an attack on the superiority of nature and especially on the notion of "human nature" (since only human culture produces anything more than bestial), and implicitly an attack on class, on the colonial project [maybe!], and on all forms of conservatism.

Brief google searches suggest Foucault didn't write about this account, which astonishes me. If ever there were a text better suited to discuss the characteristics and development of modern biopower, I don't know it.

Needless to say Itard is a humanist who believes the boy, Victor, was without society worth speaking of when we was among the animals.

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three books with this title. This is the oldest and I assume the source for Truffaut's "The Wild Child".

[Chris Nagel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The butler did it.

Actually, it was the nanny, who seems to have been a maid.

Synopsis: Naked 10 year old boy wanders out of woods in late 17th C. France. Moneyed do-gooders nab him and discover he doesn't speak French, or anything else, and only likes to eat walnuts and berries. J. M. G. Itard sets about to "civilize" boy by teaching him how to organize things and to like rich French food, with very limited results. Walnuts are better for you anyway.

[flaviakrutani · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOD this was so good i sound crazy but genuinely had me like 😮. genie wiley’s case was interesting but a feral child actually survived in the woods???? it takes the cake (is that the saying? idk). what do you mean???? what do you actually mean this kid just became an animal. ur lying

[Christian Luigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un testo fondamentale per tutti gli amanti della psicologia dell'apprendimento, della didattica, della pedagogia.

[J.S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so conflicted about this book. Dichotomous in all aspects.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siamo nel 1798 e nella foresta dell'Aveyron alcuni cacciatori trovano un bambino completamente solo e con istinti animaleschi. Dapprima destinato a trascorrere il resto dei suoi giorni in un ospizio, verrà successivamente salvato dal medico Jean Itard che attraverso metodi pedagogici innovativi, mai visti prima, cercherà di stimolare i sensi e le emozioni del fanciullo, che non sarà più solo un semplice e disprezzato "selvaggio", ma diverrà Victor, un bambino dignitoso come gli altri.

[Rosella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because Maria Montessori mentions it several times in her The Montessori Method. I've been researching Montessori I wanted to read more about her influences and I could certainly see some early manifestations of her materials, particularly in his emphasis on the sensory education. Both Itard and Montessori focus on stimulating the intellect by first introducing games to create discriminating senses.

In addition to the insights on the Montessori method, I was left with a few other thoughts. First, the description of the "savage" reinforced my belief that many so called wild children actually owe their oddities to either the developmental disabilities, which led to their abandonment or some combination of PTSD and TBI resulting from whatever abuse or trauma led them to flee. The very evidence Itrad purposes to explain the difference between his student and "idiots" suggests many students I've had with autism.

[Noran Miss Pumkin]

My copy was reprinted in 1932.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting historical document - you can really see how much Truffaut depended on it for his rendering of this amazing story in The Wild Child