Nan Sheperd’s correspondence – Alexander Gray – cataract

 Alexander Gray, translator of Danish Ballads, wrote to Nan Shepherd on 10 November 1959: ‘I have cataract in both eyes, though it is not really bad.’ On 26 November 1960 he wrote: ‘My latest escapade was an operation for Cataract in the beginning of Sept, & since then I have been unable to get glasses, especially reading glasses, that suit me. The result is that I can only read with dis-pleasure & for a short time at one go.’

These lines remind me of my own experience with ‘cataract’. Some four years ago my eyesight got worse. I asked the optometrist to order for me good reading glasses; at the time I was still cycling and had bifocals. The optometrist said I had cataract and should be operated. Overwhelmed by all his prolonged, invasive, unpleasant measurements, I could not but agree. The optometrist suggested that I should come the next day: ‘I will then more properly measure your eye bulbs, preparing you for the operation. It is a very safe operation, in fact the safest operation on NHS.’  We agreed to meet the next day.

It was only when I left that I began to think: ‘But I do not have any cataract; nothing flows from my eyes. Why is my failing eyesight diagnosed as cataract? ‘

Then I realised: ‘Cataract must refer to the operation; when the doctor pricks the bulb of the eye to remove its content, there must occur a flow of fluid, which can be quite precipitous, since the fluid is under pressure.’

I could not see how the operation could improve my eyesight; I cancelled the appointment.

Let me return to Alexander Gray. In November 1959 he wrote to Nan Shepherd that his ‘cataract’ i.e. his eyesight ‘is not really bad’. After the ‘operation for Cataract’ his eyesight got worse: ‘The result is that I can only read with dis-pleasure & for a short time at one go’