Christy Brown
Christy Brown was an Irish author and painter, born in 1932 in Dublin, Ireland, as the tenth of twenty-two children. He lived with cerebral palsy, which severely affected his physical abilities and communication skills for much of his early life. However, his mother played a crucial role in his development, helping him overcome significant challenges. At the age of five, Brown began to express himself using a piece of chalk held in his left foot, ultimately leading to his ability to write and paint.
His first book, "My Left Foot," published in 1954, details his struggles and triumphs and became an immediate literary success, gaining him international recognition. Brown's second notable work, "Down All the Days," was a fictionalized account of his life that took fifteen years to complete and explored the complexities of life in a Dublin slum. Throughout his career, he also wrote poetry and additional novels, although they received mixed reviews. Brown's life was later adapted into an acclaimed film in 1989, further solidifying his legacy. He passed away in 1981 at the age of forty-nine, remembered for his resilience and literary contributions.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Christy Brown
- Born: June 5, 1932
- Birthplace: Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland
- Died: September 6, 1981
- Place of death: Parbrook, Somerset, England
Biography
Christy Brown was born the tenth of twenty-two children in an Irish slum in Dublin, Ireland, in 1932. His father was a bricklayer, and his mother, Brigid Brown, was to be instrumental in his success in life. Brown married dental receptionist Mary Carr in 1972 and settled in County Kerry, Ireland, and in Somerset, England. Brown, was born with cerebral palsy, and he needed help throughout help his life with eating and dressing. For the first five years of his life, he could not communicate and was believed to be totally mentally and physically disabled until he began to use a piece of chalk, inserted into his left foot, to communicate with his family. In time, he became capable of using his left foot to paint pictures and to write on a typewriter. Brown’s ability to write with his left foot resulted in his famous My Left Foot (1954), which chronicles his fight against his limited physical abilities. It was written when Brown was only twenty-two and wanted to earn money to purchase an electric typewriter. An immediate literary success, it brought Brown international fame. In the book, Brown eloquently describes his difficult birth, the negative attitude of doctors, and the deep abiding love of his family, especially of his mother.
Brown’s next book, the best-selling Down All the Days (1970), which took fifteen years to complete, was a fictional retelling of Brown’s autobiography. Viewed as a triumph over Brown’s devastating physical disability and his early life of poverty, it was widely accepted. Highly sexualized in nature, it examines the seedy, riotous inhabitants of Brown’s raw Dublin slum. Brown also composed poetry. His books of poems, Come Softly to My Wake (1971), and Background Music (1973), and his second and third novels A Shadow on Summer (1974) and Wild Grow the Lilies (1976) did not stand up well to literary review. Brown died of asphyxiation in England at the age of forty-nine. Numbered among Brown’s awards are the Christopher Award from the Christopher Society for My Left Foot. My Left Foot, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker, was filmed in 1989 to very high acclaim. Refusing to give in to dejection, Brown believed that writing was compensation for not being able to speak.