The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (1997) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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People edit see section history

• Jean-Dominique Bauby: Author, editor of French Elle suffering from locked-in syndrome.
• Theophile Bauby: Jean-Dominique's son
• Claude: A worker at Berck who Jean-Dominique dictated the book to.
• Josephine: Add a description of this character.
• Berck
• Vincent
• Celeste
• Bernard
• Charles Sobraj
• Sandrine
• Olivier
• Eugenie

Quotes edit see section history

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• “"Once, I was a master at recycling leftovers. Now I cultivate the art of simmering memories."”

  Jean-Dominique Bauby

• “"If I must drool, I may as well drool on cashmere."”

  Jean-Dominique Bauby

• “I receive remarkable letters. They are opened for me, unfolded, and spread out before my eyes in a daily ritual that gives the arrival of the mail the character of a hushed and holy ceremony. I carefully read each letter myself. Some of them are serious in tone, discussing the meaning of life, invoking the supremacy of the soul, the mystery of every existence. And by a curious reversal, the people who focus most closely on those fundamental questions tend to be people I had known only superficially. Their small talk had masked hidden depths. Had I been blind and deaf, or does it take the harsh light of disaster to show a person's true nature?”

  Jean-Dominique Bauby

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• My diving bell becomes less oppressive, and my mind takes flight like a butterfly.

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• I need to feel strongly, to love and to admire, just as desperately as I need to breathe.

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• Mithra-Grandchamp is the women we were unable to love, the chances we failed to seize, the moments of happiness we allowed to drift away. Today it seems to me that my whole life was nothing but a string of those small near misses: a race whose result we know beforehand but in which we fail to bet on the winner.

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• Whereupon a strange euphoria came over me. Not only was I exiled, paralyzed, mute, half deaf, deprived of all pleasures, and reduced to the existence of a jellyfish, but I was also horrible to behold.

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• Had I been blind and deaf, or does it take the harsh light of disaster to show a person’s true nature?

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• Once, I was a master at recycling leftovers. Now I cultivate the art of simmering memories.

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• We are both locked-in cases, each in his own way: myself in my carcass, my father in his fourth-floor apartment.

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• The invisible and eternally imprisoning diving bell seems less oppressive.

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• Like the bath, my old clothes could easily bring back poignant, painful memories. But I see in the clothing a symbol of continuing life. And proof that I still want to be myself. If I must drool, I may as well drool on cashmere.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Paris
• France
• Florence
• Hong Kong

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

List the series to which this book belongs.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jean-Dominique Bauby (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: 97-72922
• Dewey: 362.19681

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Health, Mind & Body › Disorders & Diseases › Strokes
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Specific Groups

Movie Connections edit see section history

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (IMDb): 2007

More Books Like This edit see section history