Some Thoughts About Thinking.

Abstract

In this first-person case history, the writer Alberto Manguel chronicles the experience of losing his ability to write and speak during a stroke. He was reassured somewhat by his continued ability to read and to quote mentally from literature that he had memorized. Within hours after the stroke, he regained the ability to write. He remained unable to speak for a month. In this essay he ponders eloquently the relationship between thought and language, and describes how it felt not to be able to bridge the gap between thought and speech during his period of aphasia.