The Michigan Daily - W/u4., e4. - Thursday, April 4, 1996 - Sacks juxt By Elizabeth Lucas Daily Arts Writer The non-fiction of Oliver Sacks, an English-born neurologist who now prac- vices in New York, has received much popular attention for its- intriguing and sympathetic descriptions of patients with unusual neurological disorders. Two books have even been dramatized as a movie and a play. Few readers are likely to know as much about the author as they do about his work. But in an interview before Sacks' reading at Rackham on March 26, it became apparent that the unusual vents and phenomena Sacks describes Wave their counterpart in his own equally interesting life. Sacks' latest book, "An Anthropolo- gist on Mars," tells the stories of seven patients. They range from apainter who becomes color-blind, to a blind man who undergoes operations to regain his sight, to a surgeon with Tourette's syn- drome (a disease that results in uncon- trollable tics and muscular spasms). The essays go far beyond mere case istories, as Sacks integrates details of his patients' lives and personalities. He turns the book into a series of fascinat- ing mini-biographies, which will likely prove as illuminating to readers as they were to Sacks himself. "In a word? What word would you use?" Sacks mused, when asked what he'd learned from his patients. "Survival, perhaps. On the one hand, how terribly and in how many ways one *an suffer. And at the same time how, perhaps, with help, one can find re- aposes medical, literary worlds sources in oneself and construct a self or a life on a quite other basis. The fact of adaptation, in all its different forms, so one doesn't feel that there's one way of being or one health." This is a fact that Sacks exemplifies, as well. His unusual and multifaceted life defies the notion of one way of being. Few doctors, for example, would spend as much time with their patients as he does. In "Anthropologist," Sacks describes inviting patients to his house, and traveling with them to places as diverse as Italy and Moscow. Sacks explained the basis for this practice. "The first time I did anything like this, it was with great hesitation. It was in the early '70s, with a patient with Tourette's syndrome." Sacksjerked his arm to the right, imitating a Tourettic tic. "As he described to me some of the things he'd been through, I couldn't imagine what life was like for him un- less he let me see it." Sacks places great emphasis on this understanding of patients' disorders. "There may be some sort of overlap, with things we would regard as accept- ably odd or pedantic," Sacks said. "But I think there are things of which 'nor- mal' people have no experience. Like color-blindness: You either are color- blind or you're not. ... You can't under- stand what it's like to be Parkinsonian or color-blind ifyou're not. But coming back to drugs and other things, you may be enabled to understand it." Drugs? Yes, indeed. A footnote to one essay describes Sacks' experience of altered visual perception after mari- juana use, which helped him under- stand the problems of a patient who regained his sight. "Did I say that?" Sacks inquired, laughing sheepishly, when questioned about this footnote. "Well, with a mi- graine, you can have something called cinematic vision. You see a series of stills. Had I not experienced that my- self, I would be yet unable to under- stand it. And, yes, I sort of took drugs - I think that was very much more recre- ational. But I think there's a spin-off there, in that you are introduced to other sorts of minds and other forms of con- sciousness." Sacks is somewhat set apart from other physicians, not only for his un- usual perspectives, but because of his popular writings about his patients. However, he explained that this was not a recent development in his life. "I think I probably started writing long before I saw any patients," Sacks said, as he disappeared into an adjoin- ing room. He returned carrying a packet of felt-tip pens and a small notebook: "... Because I have walked around with pen and paper for as long as I can remember. I always like describing scenes of people and events. When I saw patients, it sort of fitted into this. The patient tells you their story, and you compare it with other stories, and create a story between you." Sacks was influenced by his friend- ship with the poet W. H. Auden. He explained, "Although I went to his lec- tures when he was a professor of poetry at Oxford, in '55,I didn't meet him until the late '60s....I think he said, basi- cally, that you must get out of the strait- jacket of pure case history, and try to let every dimension enter, and somehow keep your balance. So in a way he guided me to be on a sort of adventure, or to be more ambitious." This philosophy led to Sacks' writ- ing six books. One of these - "Awak- enings" - was made into a movie, an even more ambitious step. How did Sacks react to this unexpected event? "With horror," Sacks said dryly. "I was first approached in the '70s. An option was taken, but nothing happened for 10 years and I didn't think of it very much. And then in '87, a script arrived, and my immediate reaction was to try and buy the rights back." This impulse proved unwarranted, however. "I didn't have any sort of formal control, but I could discuss things and go to rehearsals.... I did my best to give a point of departure. But mostly, I think they went to great trouble to make it a fair and sensitive picture." Movie character, neurologist, writer, Sacks has an extraordinarily full resume, but one that makes sense to him. He explained this with a final anecdote about yet another surprising experience. "My father had a motorcycle with a sidecar -this is a common sort of thing on the English roads," Sacks began. "I rode motorbikes from the age of 16; I didn't actually drive a car until I was 30. So when I came to this country, I spent six months on the road. There is a sort of brotherhood or fraternity ofmotorcyclists Oliver Sacks, neurologist and author, brings his medical knowledge into his b when describing the abnormal behavior of some of his patients. on the road, and somehow when I was in San Francisco, I ran into sort of the local chapter. I gave them casual medical ad- vice on this and that." Unlike most readers, presumably, Sacks has no trouble reconciling the diverse images of physician and Hell's Angel. "Why not? One always wears several caps," he said. He again went into an adjoining roon andreturned with agreen cap. "Here'sthe medical cap, and there's the botanica cap, the swimming cap, the motorcycle helmet, the yarmulke ... whether these things are integrated or not, I don't know But we all have sort of different selves.' Javanese music, theather show at Hill Auditorium tonight By Orit Greenberg For the Daily It is very fitting that Java native F.X. Widaryanto carries the title of Interna- tional Institute's Distinguished Visit- ing Artist in Residence. Not only has he spent this entire year teaching Javanese court dance to University students, giv- ing free lessons to members of the University's Gamelan Ensemble, and choreographing a dance drama which included both groups, he is also sewing some of the costumes for the show. He is dancer, choreographer, musician and costume designer all rolled into one. Laughingly, he adds, "Like Sham- poo!" But if he were bottled, he would not be Pert Plus, he would be Pantene. It is unusual, and so refreshing, to see such modesty in an artist who possesses such talent and virtuosity. Tonight's performance is a full- length Javanese dance-drama in sendratari form, a 20th-century art form which combines elements of tra- ditional and modern Javanese dance styles with music and theater. "Sendratari" literally means "art, drama, dance." F.X. Widaryanto stressed the fact that this performance was a very large endeavor. Some of the 50 performers started rehearsing three months ago - a very short time when compared to the years he was trained in traditional Javanese court dance and music before actually performing. The dance-drama, titled Nyidrasmdrd (Stolen Love), draws on the ancient Indian epic The Mahabarata, but its theme is a universal one - the conflict between love and marriage. The dance- drama focuses on the rivalry of the two sons of Krishna for the love of a beau- tiful princess. Unlike Western orchestras whose scores are written down, the University's Gamelan Ensemble will perform a rehearsed improvisation. The 30 members perform on elaborately ornamented bronze instruments, which include gongs, metallophones and drums, that are specifically made to be played together. "I introduced (to the performers) a new way to listen. The dancers need the (gamelan's) dynamic, (it provides) the softness, the loudness ... and the chang- ing pattern of the piece affects the feel- ing and emotion of the scene," remarked F.X. Widaryanto. However, probably one of the most interesting aspects of this performance is one that the audience will not have the pleasure of watching. "In Java, the ritual gathering of all the performers the day before the performance, called selamatan (literally meaning safe), is very important." During the night, it i customary "to make a special offering usually a mountain of rice with veg. etables and fruits, in order not to en- counter any obstacles." "Togetherness is very important,' F.X. Widaryanto emphasized through- out his interview with the Daily.I tried to make a significant role foi everybody ... without her or him,"the performance would be very difficul to put on. Moreover, the performanct isn't the only thing that is supposed to come together when the curtain goes up, "The performers have to become one entity ... one group performing ir harmony and with inner peace." F X. Widaryanto performs. Save binn a Mc