Invisible by Hugues de Montalembert Atria Books HK$176
In 1978, French painter and documentary maker Hugues de Montalembert was assaulted by two men in his New York flat. They hurled paint remover at his face before fleeing. De Montalembert repeatedly rinsed his eyes in the shower but his sight was 'going away, away, away'. By the morning, he was blind. Invisible is his story.
The real challenge in de Montalembert's new circumstances was philosophical: no longer one whose life 'was based on seeing', who was he now?
His left eye was removed and two other operations to restore his sight failed. Three months in hospital were a necessary form of grace, giving him time to adjust to his new universe. '[F]rightened of being frightening', he determined to avoid that 'pit somewhere, where, nicely, with the help of society', the blind are dumped.
De Montalembert was to discover that blindness was a key into the hearts of strangers, who, unbidden, revealed to him the most intimate secrets where sight would have been an inhibitor. And yet he felt immeasurable loss when he could not look into a loved one's eyes, '[f]or love, not to see or not to be seen, can be unbearable'.
The darkness soon became oppressive. 'It was as if my inner eyelids had been torn out. There was nothing to interrupt this exhausting face-to-face confrontation within myself. Interned within myself, internal imprisonment.'