Book details

Genre:body, mind & spirit
Sub-genre:Mindfulness & Meditation
Language:English
Pages:280
eBook ISBN:9798317803971
Paperback ISBN:9798317803964

SAVANT

The Mind of Jemma

By Sebastian Gerard

Overview

It had been over twenty years since beautiful young French actress, Isabelle Massot, was murdered in the nursery of her San Diego apartment. But the only witness to the crime--their four-month-old baby daughter--Jeanne-Marie, knew the perpetrator. Jeanne-Marie, thanks to a wealthy French grandfather, ended up a patient for over two decades at San Diego's Hilltop Mental Hospital, where she became known by the sobriquet "Jemma," had not spoken a word since the day she arrived. Jemma was never diagnosed with a psychological disorder that accounted for her aphasia, nor was there a somatic reason that she spent all of her waking hours in a wheelchair. But after a treatment of electroconvulsive therapy at age twenty-one Jemma--self-educated and fluent in French--began composing a narrative on the computer that would perhaps disclose the unknown identity of the perpetrator in her mother's death. The Hospital was thrown into a turmoil when an attempt is made on Jemma's life and a priest's attempted exorcism, but they only provoke new speculation about her cognitive abilities, particularly that she might be autistic, and someone possessed of "savant syndrome," a totally unique mentality of perfect recall. As the case of Jemma becomes publicly known her virtual anonymity is erased in the limelight of media interest, the ambitions of some of those responsible for her care, and dark characters from her past. One of them is her father, Charles Archer who disappeared into Mexico. But now Archer has returned to seek reunion with the daughter he knew only as a baby. But there are no certainties in Jemma's mysterious universe in which she is orbited by an ambitious administrator, a clever neurologist, a celebrated documentarian, a retired cop, and a Roman Catholic priest. Sebastian Gerard has woven a cast of characters with different and conflicting motivations, united only by the ways in which their fates may be ordained by the unfathomable mind of a mystifying savant.

Description

Savant syndrome is a rare mental condition and one of the most fascinating phenomena in the study of human differences in cognitive psychology. It is a rare condition and is often identified and classified among mental disabilities and disorders, including the autism spectrum. People diagnosed with savant syndrome display one or more mental capacities of extraordinary brilliance or ability, differentiating it from other mental disorders and conditions. The abilities of savants occur spontaneously. They are not the result of training, ambition, or even prior awareness of possession. The condition may manifest genetically but may also develop in prenatal through post- natal phases of growth. In other instances, the syndrome may appear later in life, following head injuries, strokes, injuries to the central nervous system or as a result of disease. A paradox of the syndrome is that savants possessing exceptional abilities in certain areas–like mathematical calculation, memorization, polyglotism, music and art–that normally take a very high intelligence quotient to perform, are often of otherwise low intelligence, and sometimes suffer from mental retardation or are severely autistic. Savant presentation may also be associated with other types of disorders such as Williams' syndrome, Smith-Magenis syndrome, Prader-Willis syndrome, or damage to the corpus callosum. Why it manifests slightly six times more frequently in men than in women remains a mystery. Perhaps the most likely hypothesis for savant syndrome is a connection with a dysfunction of the left hemisphere of the brain, where skills at abstraction and logical and symbolic thinking are performed. However, there are many contending hypotheses associated with biological causes for savant syndrome. Hence the purpose of the proposed documentary series is to explore cases of this unusual syndrome with the assistance of researchers and clinicians in brain science, and to present them with care and respect for better understanding by the general public. Central to this exploration will be the case of Jeanne-Marie Massot Archer, also known as "Jemma"–a mute twenty-one-year-old woman in San Diego, California who suddenly began writing a story on a computer containing details she could only have been exposed to as a baby less than a year old. Her story has caused considerable public interest in various media, including speculative Internet sites because of its possible relationship to the death of her mother over two decades ago. It is hoped that this production will inspire further research and development of possible clinical outcomes where necessary and appropriate for a variety of brain and mind conditions such as stroke, CTE, psychosis, and suicide ideation, among other physiological and mental disorders.

About The Author

SEBASTIAN GERARD Gerard's first full-length work of fiction, For Goodness Sake, A Novel of the Afterlife of Suzie Wong, written as Sebastian Gerard, was published in Hong Kong in 2008 and he has scripted the story for production as a feature motion picture. In 2014 it was published in French by GOPE in France under the title A la Poursuite de Suzie Wong. A book of his aphorisms, Lifelines, writing as Sebastian Gerard, was published in May 2004. Stumbling Blocks & Stepping Stones, a Novel of Growing Up Catholic (2015) The Babo Gospels: Essays and Parables on Faith and Reason (2018). The River Dragon's Daughters, a novel of Four Women of the Yangtze was published in 2019. Forsaken a novel that deals with a terrorist attack and religious hypocrisy in a small town in upstate New York was published in 2020. His most recent publication is The Moneylender, a Novel of the Inner Life of Shakespeare's Shylock (2024). Gerard also writes nonfiction books under the name James A. Clapp. His first full-length work of fiction, For Goodness Sake, A Novel of the Afterlife of Suzie Wong, written as Sebastian Gerard, was published in Hong Kong in 2008 and he has scripted the story for production as a feature motion picture. In 2014 it was published in French by GOPE in France under the title A la Poursuite de Suzie Wong. A book of his aphorisms, Lifelines, writing as Sebastian Gerard, was published in May 2004. Stumbling Blocks & Stepping Stones, a Novel of Growing Up Catholic (2015) The Babo Gospels: Essays and Parables on Faith and Reason (2018). The River Dragon's Daughters, a novel of Four Women of the Yangtze was published in 2019. Forsaken a novel that deals with a terrorist attack and religious hypocrisy in a small town in upstate New York was published in 2020. His most recent publication is The Moneylender, a Novel of the Inner Life of Shakespeare's Shylock (2024). Dr. Clapp has taught on the faculty of the University of California and was appointed by the French Ministry of Education as a Visiting Professor at the University of Paris VII in 1989 and 1999, where he lectured on both film and American urbanism. He also taught for the Syracuse University Division of International Programs in Hong Kong in 1997 and was a guest lecturer at TongJi University, Shanghai that year. He has also delivered lectures at Peking and Tsinghua Universities and the Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. In 2008 he was made an "Honorary Professor" of Beijing City University. Articles based on his lectures there have been published in Chinese. In the year 2000 he was the Fulbright Scholar at Lingnan University and the School of Creative Media at City University, in Hong Kong. From 1977 to 2003 he conducted annual summer travel-study courses in European, Asian, North African, and Middle Eastern cities. Dr. Clapp's work in media and journalism began in 1980 when as Ch