Romanticism and Deaf Justice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Thomas Holcroft’s Deaf and Dumb (1801), an adaptation of J. N. Bouilly’s L’Abbé de L’Épée (1799), is a foundational story for deaf justice that models educational access as a route to self-determination for deaf people. Based on the real story of the Comte de Solar, Bouilly’s play, and its many translations, recounts the story of an abandoned deaf child who is rescued by the Abbé, taught sign language and restored to his family. This article follows the progress of the tale as it is reworked by deaf and hearing writers, circulating extensively in many genres on both sides of the Atlantic over the next two hundred years. Holcroft’s version is closely tied to fundraising for deaf schools, and is an important example of transatlantic exchange between deaf Anglophone and Francophone worlds. Although Holcroft’s play was embraced by pioneer deaf educators, such as Laurent Clerc, its sentimentality has proved to be problematic, as this article will also explore. The Solar story is, nevertheless, significant for the attention it pays to a number of deaf justice issues: the rights to family life and name; property ownership and inheritance; education and literacy; access to communication and community; and legal protections.