An account of the public life of a young boy who appeared in a French village in 1800 after living as a wild animal for most of his eleven or twelve years and of the attempts of a doctor to bring him to a civilized state.

"Shattuck reveals that Proust must be read as carefully as a detective story, in which every detail becomes a clue to something else. At the same time, every page coruscates with a blend of passion and anxiety over the introduction of strange new elements. Shattuck writes on the ways in which Proust explores character, the false scent of social prestige, existential loss, humor, even memory itself. Finally, Shattuck laments Proust's defenselessness...