At the moment, the 5th doesn't have a regular inhabitant - so I thought I would slip in very briefly, mostly to commend to you yesterday's thought-provoking post from Ciaran Murtagh. In it, he considers how writing stories for children - stories which embody values such as hope, kindness, empathy: stories in which good people ultimately win - can be balanced against the horrific events we see being rolled out in Ukraine. How can we insist that Right will always prevail over Might, when we are getting constant evidence via our phones and television screens that the reverse is, at the moment, true?
In the comments on Ciaran's piece, Anne Booth provides a link to an article by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the writer of the marvellous and uplifting opening sequence to the 2012 Olympics, in which he discusses the role of the arts in the context of that inclusive, joyous and exuberant portrayal of Britain, and of the very different Britain which came to the fore in the Brexit referendum. He cites a Roma woman, brought up in a series of orphanages in Switzerland, who overcame very difficult circumstances to lead a happy and successful life.
She had grown up in Switzerland where - shockingly - Roma children were taken away from their parents on the thinnest of pretexts, then brought up in institutions where, supposedly, they would have a better chance of becoming valuable Swiss citizens. Mariella had been in thirteen different institutions, narrowly missed a lobotomy and had her own child confiscated. Yet when I met her she was an articulate, charming, outward-looking politically active, distinguished writer. I asked her about all that rebellion, the repeated expulsions … I asked her … how did you know there was something to rebel for? How did you know - growing up in this regimented institution where you were defined entirely by race - how did you know you were worth more? And she said said something I have never forgotten … it’s the thing that made me want to be a children’s writer … she said, I read Heidi.
There's so much in this article that struck a chord with me. If, as must surely be inevitable, you are feeling downcast at the moment, I would strongly recommend it. If I had to pick out one gem, it would be this: A book is not a learning resource. It's the knife that picks the lock of your isolation. It's a box of delights. Justification enough to keep on writing, even if, at the moment, in the shadow of what is happening, it seems like fiddling while Rome burns. It's not. It's really not.
Here's a link to the article, and thanks to Ciaran and Anne.
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3 comments:
Thanks for this, Sue, and to Ciaran for his powerful blog yesterday - and to Anne for linking it to Frank Cotterell Boyce's excellent article in The Guardian. It's all too much to take in at the moment, so thanks to everyone for trying to make some sort of sense of our reactions to the crisis.
To some extent, I agree. Earlier this evening, on the BBC website, I came across a piece entitled... '.. State of Play..' ( in Ukraine ) which does rather encapsulate a certain mindset.
However, yesterday, my reading of his post was this, and it remains so. Over several posts, although they ostensibly address a specific part of the work that he does, the general theme is his own dissatisfaction with the ways of the industry in which he works. Specifically, his own involvement in it. And what is essentially writing to order, and being, presumably quite well rewarded for that. This rather echoes a post by 'Stroppy Author, Anne Rooney a short while back.
My own view of both posts approximates to... you're both being well rewarded to writ what others want you to write. That's what you're hired to do. If you want to write what you want to write, it's your choice to break out of the loop/hamster wheel, whatever you like to call it. Your choice.
Sue, thank you so much for the link to the Frank Cottrell Boyce article. A welcome reminder of the sources and importance of culture. He writes about far more than that inspiring ceremony.
Thank you, too, for adding those flowers.
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