Jean-Dominique Bauby

A Memoir of Life in Death

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

One of the most remarkable memoirs ever written. The diary of Jean-Dominique Bauby who, with his left eyelid (the only surviving muscle after a massive stroke) dictated a remarkable book about his experiences locked inside his body. A masterpiece and a bestseller in France. In December 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French Elle and the father of two young children, suffered a massive stroke and found himself paralysed and speechless. But his mind remained as active and alert as it had ever been. Using his only functioning muscle - his left eyelid - he was determined to tell his remarkable story, painstakingly spelling it out letter by letter. The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly records Bauby's lonely existence but also the ability to invent a life for oneself in the most appalling of circumstances. It one of the most extraordinary books about the triumph of the human spirit ever written.

The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly

Skafandr a motýl

The author, former editor of French Elle magazine, describes the rare stroke to the brain stem that left his mind intact in a nearly totally paralyzed body

Jean-Dominique Bauby

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