• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.93-111
• /
• 2023

The authors investigated the artistic characteristics of autistic savant artists, hypotheses on the proximate and ultimate causes of their emergence, recent psychological and other studies about them, and psychological and neuroaesthetic studies about non-savant autistic individuals. The artistic features of autistic savant artists were significantly similar to those of outsider artists. Furthermore, the authors investigated the explanatory power of the paradoxical functional facilitation theory, the superior visual perception hypothesis, the "Hmmmmm" hypothesis, and the Neanderthal theory of autism regarding the emergence of autistic savant artists. In addition, we investigated whether an increase in savant characteristics was related to a decrease in the ability for social communication. The authors suggested that in studies on the aesthetic experience of non-savant autistic individuals, their aesthetic experience ability is never lower than that of neurotypical individuals and that some non-savant autistic individuals may potentially have artistic talent. Finally, the authors reviewed the effectiveness of the "autism savant spectrum syndromic disorder" proposed by some researchers. More scientific and systematic studies on autistic savant artists from a multidisciplinary perspective are warranted.

• English & American cultural studies
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.89-110
• /
• 2016

Since he was an exile, Henry James himself was well aware of agonies as an outsider in either Europe or America. Such an anguish is deftly depicted in the character of Felix Young with James's unique ironic tone. Unlike James, however, Felix is neither affluent nor distinguished as an artist. Nor is he supported by any patron. Furthermore, at first, he doesn't seem to survive the strict joyless environment in New England, but he possesses his own survival value. His unique esthetic value and his beautiful smile enable him to win Gertrude's heart. His adroit balance between pleasure-seeker and respect for American serious culture without hostility ultimately ends up with his marrying Gertrude. His arrival in Boston might pose a threat as Mr. Wentworth fears. Actually he subverts the traditional idea of an artist. He is armed with amiability and frankness, which are incongruous with a stereotypical idea of an artist: a willful, freakish, and self-righteous person. Felix here suggests to us that a new kind of modern art be possible. Gertrude is also a new woman who opposes to staying put under the patriarchal society. She is always wavering in and out of the house, searching for opportunities to quench her curiosity to see the world by breaking the bond of New England. Her ceaseless quest for independent values results in fortuitous encounter with a new species of artist Felix. Unlike Henry James's other novels, in which male characters assume a role of sophisticated "fortune-hunter," the union of Felix and Gertrude in The Europeans represents the compromise between two different cultures. According to Nietzsche, the birth of superman is possible by the union of Athens and Jerusalem. In other words, the matrimony of Felix and Gertrude means the commingling of his liberal arts and Gertrude's moral seriousness might contribute to the birth of the new culture.