Today I was writing about Jane Campion, the film director, as part of a series of books I’m writing on famous New Zealanders. As you may know, Jane made the film "Angel At My Table" about New Zealand author Janet Frame.

In the process of my research, I discovered to my surprise that Janet Frame received two hundred electroshock treatments in her eight years in mental institutions. But it was her writing that gave doctors second thoughts about whether she belonged in a hospital, and she was released just in the nick of time, having been short-listed for a lobotomy.

Well, this all got mentioned in the book, so then I had to define lobotomy in the Glossary as most kids wouldn’t know what a lobotomy is.

Looking up lobotomy proved to be fun!

I came upon a site that was very anti-psychiatry but also full of useful information.

Lobotomy is “a surgical incision into the frontal lobe of the brain to sever one or more nerve tracts, a technique formerly used to treat certain mental disorders but now rarely performed. Lobotomy refers to the surgical cutting of nerve connections between the frontal lobes and the rest of the brain. The frontal lobes are unique to human beings and are the seat of the higher functions such as love, concern for others, empathy, self-insight, creativity, initiative, autonomy, rationality, abstract reasoning, judgement, future planning, foresight, will-power, determination, and concentration. Without the frontal lobes it is impossible to be "human" in the fullest sense of the word; they are required for a civilised, effective, mature life. Depending on the amount of damage done, the effect can be partial or relatively complete. In a complete lobotomy, the patient becomes obviously demented with loss of all higher mental functions.”

The “fun” bit was that the lobotomy technique was invented by Portuguese neurosurgeon Egas Moniz in 1935 who used to stab a long, thin blade into the brains of his victims through holes drilled in their skulls. In an ironic testimony to the failings of the technique, Moniz was shot and paralysed by one of his lobotomy victims in 1939 and, in 1955, was beaten to death by another.

Ah yes, writing kids’ books is a real education….

I mean, all of Jane Campion’s movies are erotic films, either erotic dramas or erotic thrillers.

I discovered her signature on one website. Surprise, surprise, the lower zones of her writing indicate a vivid erotic imagination!

Ah yes, it’s fascinating writing kids’ books.