Editing Bohuslav Martinů (section)

== Personality ==
There have been many discussions about Martinů's personality, manners and possible [[Asperger syndrome]]. Frank James Rybka promoted the idea that Martinů suffered from this kind of autism spectrum disorder.<ref>{{cite book |title=Bohuslav Martinů: The Compulsion to Compose |last=Rybka |first=James F. |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8108-7761-0 |location=Lanham, MD }}</ref> He met Martinů in 1941, when the composer was 51 and Rybka was only six years old; later on he met him in 1951 and then in 1959, a month before the composer died.

According to Rybka, Martinů was quiet, introverted, and emotionally stolid when meeting persons he did not know well. He typically answered questions very slowly, even when conversing in his native Czech. He might fail to reciprocate socially when people would compliment his music, or do favors for him.<ref>Rybka and Osonoff, p. 42.</ref> Close friends found him to be a kind, gentle, self-effacing, unbiased person. In 2009, Rybka launched a retrospective study of the composer's unusual personality, based upon interviews of people who knew him, as well as a study of letters he had written to his family and friends. Evidence of his having an autism spectrum disorder was compiled and evaluated, using the established criteria found in the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disease ''(DSM-IV). This evidence was reviewed by a well-known autism neuroscientist who concurred that the composer had good evidence of having had an autistic spectrum disorder, most likely Asperger syndrome. This was described in their publication.<ref>Martinu's Impressive Quiet, ''Czech Music'', 23 (2009), 31–50</ref> In 2011, Rybka published a Martinů biography, in which such traits are reviewed, such as his failure of social reciprocity, his flat affect and stolidity, his phobias and extreme stage fright, his strict adherence to a ritualized schedule, and his zoning out into an aura, while walking with his mind deeply engrossed in composing.<ref>Rybka, FJ pp.&nbsp;293–307.</ref> The biography concludes that there were both positive and negative ways Asperger's affected his life. It seems to have facilitated his extraordinary memory for music, and his ability to compose prolifically and skillfully, but it also left him unable to promote or showcase his music in public.<ref>Rybka, FJ pp 315–23.</ref>

Against this, Erik Entwistle in his review of Rybka's publication emphasized three main points contradicting Rybka's conclusions. These are: firstly, that it is impossible to diagnose someone so many years after his death; secondly, that Asperger syndrome officially does not exist as a separate syndrome;  and finally, that according to Entwistle, Rybka became obsessed with the idea of Martinů's disorder, finding evidence for his claim everywhere.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Entwistle |first=Eric |date=September 2012 |title=Bohuslav Martinů: The Compulsive to Compose |journal=Notes |pages=93–96 |doi=10.1353/not.2012.0136 |s2cid=161758143 }}</ref>