Reading Order
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Reading Order
Jean-Dominique Bauby's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (1997) was written entirely by blinking — Bauby, former editor-in-chief of French Elle, suffered a massive stroke in 1995 that left him with locked-in syndrome; he could move only his left eyelid. Over ten months, he dictated the book letter by letter to a transcriber who recited the alphabet while Bauby blinked to select each letter. The result is a meditation on memory, imagination, and consciousness — the mind (the butterfly) trapped inside the immobile body (the diving bell). Bauby died two days after the book's publication in France.
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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Complete The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Book List
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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jean-Dominique Bauby·1997·The complete short memoir — approximately 130 pages. No sequels; Bauby died two days after the French publication.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — Frequently Asked Questions
How was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly written?
Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a massive stroke on December 8, 1995, at age 43 — a brainstem stroke that destroyed his ability to speak or move any part of his body except his left eyelid. Over the next ten months, he composed the book by blinking as an assistant read out the letters of the alphabet in order of frequency; one blink meant yes, that letter. The process took roughly four hours a day. Bauby died on March 9, 1997, two days after the French publication of Le scaphandre et le papillon. Julian Schnabel's 2007 film adaptation won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
What should I read next after The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?
For readers who loved the book's meditation on consciousness and the body, A Change of Gravity by George V. Higgins, I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, and Christopher Reeve's Still Me (1998) are companions in the genre of writing about disability and the inner life. The broader category of short, powerful French memoirs includes Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française, Patrick Modiano's Nobel lecture, and Annie Ernaux's The Years.
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