AQA (A) Literature: ‘Victorian literature’; ‘Creative study’
When J. G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in 1935 he had a caul (a membrane over the face and neck), which was considered a sign of good fortune. Cauls used to be prized by sailors, because there was a superstition that possession of a baby’s caul could bring protection from drowning. Interestingly, Farrell’s biographer, Lavinia Greacen, has said that Farrell experienced a recurring nightmare in which he felt he was being pulled underwater. This may have been a legacy of the time he spent in an iron lung, after being diagnosed with polio when he was a student. Ironically Farrell did drown, off the Irish coast, in 1979.
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