Tue., April 6
Hypergraphia: The Life of Arthur Crew Inman

Arthur Crew Inman fancied himself a poet, and he spent years fashioning and publishing verse without any critical acclaim. When he finally abandoned poetry he began writing, obsessively and in great detail, about his life in Boston, and of the thousands of people he encountered as a resident of the city.

Arthur Crew Inman's diary became one of the longest journals in existence, and he cataloged everything from his marriage to wife Evelyn to his many illnesses, his lifelong obsessions and disappointments, his regular doctor visits and his reclusiveness. Everyone is included: grocers, chemists, chauffeurs, hired young women, friends, acquaintances, strangers, and passersby: nothing escaped his purview. What resulted was 155 volumes penned by a hypergraphic--a man set in motion by his own curiosity, obsessed with detail, and torn apart by his own compulsions.

Joining us is Lorenzo DeStefano, a writer, filmmaker, photgrapher and playwright, who wrote the play "Camera Obscura," about the life of Arthur Crew Inman. He's currently producing a film on Inman's life, called "Hypergraphia," starring actor John Hurt. Also joining us is Dr. Alice Flaherty, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a professor at Harvard Medical School. She's the author of "The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writers Block, and the Creative Brain," about her personal experience with writing and hypergraphia.