"...
One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky
..."
From Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin (1935)
Summertime!
Time to relax,
time to read,
time to gather new inspiration -
see you again in September!
time to read,
time to gather new inspiration -
see you again in September!
Quote of the Month - June 2013
"Now the light of the sun had shifted; it seemed winter light again, flattened and diffuse, and the flames of the votives burned higher. Moira's hands were at Kate's hips, lifting her from behind, tilting heat into her abdomen. She moved up along Kate's spine with her fists, a hard and soft pressure, repetitive, patterned with heat that Kate felt in her forearms, in her thighs. She felt herself knit together, handled like something wounded; she realized how far she was from herself, and how she might begin to live here again, in her body. Slowly, it would happen. She might call and call now for her own return, but she only floated, inhabitating so many former selves with more conviction."
From MotherKind by Jayne Anne Phillips (2000)
From MotherKind by Jayne Anne Phillips (2000)
Jayne Anne Phillips *1952
Remember last month's Quote of the Month by Zadie Smith? Her character Samad feeling unfit to 'return'? The question of, when we return where do we return to?
I myself have returned - first 'returned' to my childhood's 'Heimat' and now back to my present 'thuis' and come across this month's quote in my notes. I like the idea of extending our focus: "She might call and call now for her own return." No need to search outside: Home is Where Your Heart Is! Eventually, it all lies inside oneself. Question solved - clear answer.
But then again: inside oneself?! Why then: "...inhabiting so many former selves with more conviction" which reminds me of: "These selves which we are built up of, one on top of the other, as plates are piled on a waiter's hand, [...]"!!! Sounds familiar? No, it is not from the philosophical book Who am I? And If So, How Many? by the German author Richard David Prichet - though the title sprang up immediately before my imaginative eye while reading the above sentence. Actually, it is a quote from the fantastic biography of Orlando written by Virginia Woolf transcending through four hundred years of history and from man to woman. Coincidently, this book is one which will be discussed in our last meeting of The English Book Club in June. I wonder how the participants will react to the idea of various 'selves'.So, 'to return' can mean a lot of things: to return to a place, to return to oneself, to return to this world after death...but I will leave it up to you to start a discussion with your friends and family. I won't bore you anymore with these contemplations instead, and will now give you some background information of this month's Quote of the Month's author:
Jayne Anne Phillips was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia, USA. Another (frequent) contributor to Granta's Magazine and winner of various prestigious literary prizes; additionally translated in various languages around the world. She is currently Professor of English and Founder / Director of the Rutgers-Newark Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program. The Atlantic magazine listed her program in 2007 as one of "Five Up-and-Coming" creative writing programs in the United States. Interesting detail: after graduation from University, Jayne went on a cross-country trip from West Virginia to California, taking on various jobs on her way. This trip shaped her writing with the focus on survivors of various struggles like in her novel, Machine Dreams, published in 1984: A chronicle of the Hampson family from the turn of the century to the Vietnam War. The Los Angeles Times praised her "stories that hover on the edge of poetry". Slow-motion literature, I would call it, with an eye to details that are usually dropped in fiction. She was also praised by Nadine Gordimer as "the best short story writer since Eudora Welty". MotherKind, Jayne's third novel, was one of the books we discussed at The English Book Club in 2010 while focusing on the theme: "Common Ground? The American Family Novel". To some readers complete boredom to others a revelation. It was a very lively discussion!
Quote of the Month - May 2013
"These days, it feels to me like you make a devil's pact when you walk into this country. You hand over your passport at the check-in, you get stamped, you want to make a little money, get yourself started...but you mean to go back! Who would want to stay? Cold, wet, miserable; terrible food, dreadful newspapers - who would want to stay? In a place where you are never welcomed, only tolerated. Just tolerated. Like you are an animal finally house-trained. Who would want to stay? But you have made a devil's pact...it drags you in and suddenly you are unsuitable to return, your children are unrecognizable, you belong nowhere."
From White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
From White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
Zadie Smith *1975
Zadie Smith isn't really an obscure 'lesser known' author who would still need an introduction, even to non-English readers. I had taken part in several literary discussions here in the Netherlands on the various titles by Zadie Smith. And it's been only last month that she was listed a second time as 'Granta's Best of Young British Novelists'.
Yet, I've been prompted by this particular quote as I will 'return home' for some weeks to attend my father's 80th birthday celebrations.
Is it actually possible to 'return home', I wonder? Where do I 'return to'? Childhood places? Childhood friends? Everyone's moved on in life each going in their own chosen direction, just as I have. If I were to 'return home' for good, I wonder if we would still be friends?
What about those whose country changed completely such as the former DDR? After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the whole system altered and former conventions/convictions were radically overthrown. Where would they 'return home' to?
What about the millions forced to flee their homes for any number of reasons and never being able to 'return home'?
Do you remember Anjali Joseph? I first introduced her in November 2011 on this blog? She has since published her second novel, Another Country (2012) in which she describes a typical modern nomad life. The protagonist is trying to settle in three different countries. A second novel with its weaknesses but still strong in imagery:
"For each girl, the other's home was non-concrete, but superstitiously to be believed, in the way of a story heard in infancy; it held a reality that had nothing to do with experience. Both knew it, and it made them feel tender, as though for their own lives, which might have been continuing elsewhere."
I am curious what 'returning home' means to you - feel free to comment!
To those of you unfamiliar with Zadie Smith and her books: she was born Sadie Smith in the northwest London Borough of Brent, UK. Her latest book NW (2012) refers to it as 'NW' is part of the postcode of that particular borough. She grew up with two elder half-siblings from her father's first marriage and two younger borthers from his second marriage to her mother, who had immigrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1969. They were a very musical family: while Zadie loved tap dancing, singing and performing, working as a Jazz singer during her studies, her two younger brothers became rappers. But in the end, it was literature that captured and won Zadie's heart.
Zadie's first novel White Teeth was published in 2000 and was received with fantastic reviews. It immediately became a bestseller and was praised internationally. She won various awards and it raised expectations for her second novel: The Autograph Man. Published in 2002, the novel was less favourably received - but then again, this is quite a familiar occurence for highly acclaimed first book authors. It is said that she even experienced a short spell of a writer's block while writing her second novel. Zadie visited the US in 2002-2003 as Radcliff Institute for Advanced Study Fellow at Harvard University. On Beauty, published in 2005, was written in that period and is set mainly around the area of Boston and won back her standing as an acclaimed author. She was subsequently shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006 and in 2012 her latest novel NW was chosen as one of the Ten Best Books of 2012 by the NYT. Zadie taught fiction at Columbia University School of the Arts and joined the New York University as a tenured Professor of fiction in 2010. She currently commutes with her family between New York City and London, UK.
Quote of the Month - April 2013
"I am often troubled by the enormity of having undertaken to explore two crafts instead of one, two difficult crafts, each of which could command a lifetime's imagination and effort. But there are some things the novel can do which poetry cannot do; lyric poetry is concerned chiefly with the moment's intense vision, the vision of one person; the novel is concerned with the inter-relation of several -and sometimes many- psyches and their impact on each other. It is concerned with growth. A novel requires a long breath, un long souffle as the French would say. It can, to some extent, be planned ahead over a considerable period of time. One can say, "I am going to write a novel next year," but one cannot say, "I am going to write a poem next year." Intellect and will do not control poetry to the same extent."
From Writings on Writing by May Sarton (1980)
From Writings on Writing by May Sarton (1980)
May Sarton (1912 - 1995)
May Sarton, born in Wondelgem, Belgium, as Eleanore Marie Sarton; her father George Sarton, a Belgian historian of science, and her mother the English artist Mabel Elwes Sarton. The family left the country, when Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, and moved first to May's maternal grandmother who lived in Ipswich, UK. Another year later, they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where her father took up a post at Harvard. May went to the Shady Hill School, only founded in 1915 by Agnes Hocking and her husband, a so-called 'open air school'. May was strongly influenced by Agnes, daughter of the Irish Poet John Boyle O'Reilly, as her poetry teacher. May tells in an interview with the PARIS REVIEW that they were four pupils from school who met, read and discussed each other's poems. At the age of 17, five sonnets by May were already published in Poetry magazine, becoming the opening sonnets in her first book Encounter in April. But that's for later...In 1965, things changed though: Sarton publishes her novel Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing, in which she is writing openly about her being lesbian. It wasn't the time yet. She lost various jobs and the critics turned to diminishing her previous work. Astonishingly, on the other hand, her readership expanded who turned to her for encouragement. Also Sarton's journals and her openness about her emotional life drew a growing group of readers, so as her Journal of Solitude, published in 1973. Additionally, times were changing and at universities Women's Studies gained more and more influence and May's work serious recognition. Nevertheless, reviews were often harsh and May suffered from self-doubt throughout her life, questioning her talent which almost stopped her writing at all in spite of various appointments and several honorary doctorate degrees. She admitted that her writing is far from innovative. Sometimes it seems that she is singularly focusing on her very private life but still her influence and bravery opened doors to many to lead a more complete life. In 1990, May suffered a severe stroke which left her unable to write. But her urge to communicate was stronger so she dictated her last journals, still celebrating her life and love even at an old age. In 1995 though, May succumbed to breast cancer.
Please take your time and read the above mentioned interview in the PARIS REVIEW - it's really worth it and you'll learn a lot about this extraordinary author and her writing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)