Stammering in literature

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Elisabeth with a few of the offending books

Elisabeth Wright has had enough of the way authors use stammering as a literary device, and here tells us what she'd like to see instead.

A year or so ago, as I was out running in the beautiful countryside with a friend, I mentioned that my eldest daughter has a stammer. My friend's immediate response was to ask if my daughter is nervous. I would never think of describing my daughter as nervous, so why was that my friend's first question about her stammer?

Before I learned more about stammering and its causes, I think I probably had the same misconception of stammering that my friend had. And so I asked myself why, and I realised that all my life I had been reading the word 'stammer' in connection with nervousness. In literature, more often than not we see characters stammering out their words when they are nervous. This may be a popular and easy literary device for authors to use to convey nervousness, but I believe that it has a huge impact on how people who stammer are judged in society. 

Stammering continues to be the popular and all-too-easy way to describe someone who is nervous.

Rather than it being a nervous condition, research highlights that stammering is influenced by genetic and neurological factors. The misrepresentation in literature of stammering as a nervous complaint adds to the many misconceptions around stammering in society, and deters people from exploring it further and gaining a proper understanding of stammering.

When I used to read about characters in novels nervously stammering, I, like so many readers, didn't question it at all. But now that I have a greater understanding of stammering, I am disappointed when I sit down to enjoy a good book and a character stammers to show their nervousness. It happens all the time! I find stammering in almost everything I read and, unfortunately, so does my daughter. It saddens us both.

I believe that when this occasional faltering when speaking is described as 'stammering' in literature, it is harmful to the stammering community.

We all may occasionally hesitate on words when we are in situations that make us nervous, but I believe that when this occasional faltering when speaking is described as 'stammering' in literature, it is harmful to the stammering community. People who stammer are often judged unfairly because of this literary device, and are wrongly assumed to be nervous because of their speech differences. 

The saddest part of all, I feel, is that the misrepresentation of stammering in literature does not appear to be lessening as time goes by, even though we are supposed to be living in 'enlightened times'. In a recent English literature lesson, my daughter was instructed on how to write a stammer, using repetition of sound, to convey a character's nervousness.

While we have seen many other prejudices becoming far less common in literature over recent years, stammering continues to be the popular and all-too-easy way to describe someone who is nervous. From Alexandre Dumas in the 1800s and many novelists before him, through to Dan Brown in the 2000s and many of today's novelists, authors are using a literary device that misleads the wider society in their perception of stammering.

If we are to see positive change in the acceptance of stammering as a neurological difference rather than an expression of nervousness, it is vital that both authors and teachers are educated in the true nature of stammering, and that the use of words connected to stammering are used in a more responsible way.

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