The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

At the age of 44, after a catastrophic stroke and several weeks in a coma, Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor of Elle magazine, became a victim of what is known as''locked-in syndrome.'' Unable to move or speak, though he continued to feel pain, Bauby found eventually that he could move only his left eyelid. Using a specially constructed alphabet based on letter-frequency, he dictated this extraordinary memoir of his ordeal by blinking his good eye. Bauby died in March 1997. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.