5 May, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I went to a conference recently called Narratives in Transition: Literary and Cultural Change since 1989. I only went because I needed to fill my quota of conferences and seminars for the year, but it turned out to be a fantastic experience. Not only was it super informative, but it felt good to get out of the house and mingle with actual humans. Now that I have become a full-time writer, I am essentially a recluse, which is a bit sad. Note to self: Attend more conferences. Did I mention there were lots of cute thirtysomething English professors there? By “English professor” I don’t mean “professor who is English” but rather “professor who teaches English,” even though they were all English anyway.
During one of the many coffee breaks (where I ate too much shortbread), one of these gents taught me how to pronounce Toibin, as in Colm Toibin, the Irish writer. The answer is: Toe-bean. Ahhh, one of life’s mysteries solved. [There was still, however, much disagreement over how to pronounce Coetzee. I'm getting tired of this debate. I suggest someone get Coetzee's phone number and call him. He'd either answer the phone (doubtful) or even better, his voicemail would pick up: "Hello, this is J.M. ---. I'm not home right now, please leave a message." Problem solved.]
Anyway, on to the substance of the conference. There was a lot of discussion regarding narratives of trauma. I am particularly interested in this, since the narrator of my novel has suffered a trauma and it’s difficult to portray this in a way that is not self-pitying. While the conference was primarily academic in that it was aimed at scholars, not practitioners of creative writing like me, I got many good ideas and insights into my own work.
The trauma discussed at the conference was focused mostly on WWII, the Holocaust and 9/11. I was introduced to the concept of “post-memory,” which I had never heard before. I found a good definition on the web to share here, courtesy of Marianne Hirsh, who describes post-memory as “the relationship of children of survivors of cultural or collective trauma to the experiences of their parents, experiences that they ‘remember’ only as the narratives and images with which they grew up, but that are so powerful, so monumental, as to constitute memories in their own right.”
9/11 was also a frequent topic for discussion. The events of 9/11 feature in my book in a small, recurrent way, so I was very interested in this. One of the panelists discussed “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” by Mohsin Hamid. Has anyone read this? I put it on my reading list. Another panelist discussed Don DeLillo’s novel “Falling Man,” whose title is taken from the famous photo of the same name. This photo is of a man jumping from the World Trade Center on 9/11. I became obsessed with this for a number of days (sometimes I develop weird obsessions). I found a fascinating article about this photo in Esquire.
Another panel focused on erotic memoirs, talking specifically about “Belle de Jour” and “Girl With a One-Track Mind” (which, interestingly, have virtually identical covers). It’s impossible for me to summarize the whole presentation here, but there were many interesting points raised about these books. (I have not read either of these memoirs and I’m not sure if American readers are familiar with them, but they are quite popular over here. Not serious or high-brow, obviously.) These memoirs purport to be about “sexual freedom,” which is problematic on many levels. First, does sexual freedom equal freedom itself? We’re made to think so by mainstream culture, but that seems to be a hollow message to me that ultimately serves patriarchal values. And just how “free” are these women? Belle de Jour is a prostitute (or so she claims). I’m not convinced a woman who lives in a patriarchal society can work as a prostitute and claim any sort of freedom, sexual or otherwise. In “Girl With a One-Track Mind,” she again claims to be sexually free, yet, according to the presentation, hints at the end that she wants a more normal relationship and all the things other (straight) girls supposedly dream about. But in wishing this, isn’t she casting her sexual “freedom” as something abnormal and aberrant? So much for being free. One professor on the panel stated that these books are simply masturbatory and pornographic, without any real value whatsoever.
David Edgar, the playwright, gave a talk about political theatre that was fascinating. BTW, his recent piece in the Guardian is worth checking out.
Finally, Toby Litt was part of the closing panel during which he made some snotty comments about America and wondered aloud why America even had to exist. Ooh, what a rebel! What daring ideas! Lame.
I am so far booked for two more conferences this summer and will perhaps add a third one. It gets to be quite expensive, especially when my department will only give conference funding to those giving papers. Hmmm. Perhaps I’ll give a paper myself, preferably next winter in a nice tropical location…
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Gregory Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 3:34 amThere is a fada on the ó and on the í. Tóibín is originally from St. Aubyn in Brittany, it is a Norman import.
A lot of folks think the Irish are zonked for diminished aristocracy, it isn’t like that, it is a bit Arabic,
me and my brothers against my cousins, my brothers and my cousins against the world, you have to know who you are.
If you say you are Irish, nobody will ever call you a liar, which is one of the reasons, we get a bit bemused at folks looking up anglo names over here.
I mean, why go back five hundred years to prove you are English! It doesn’t make sense does it?
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Gregory Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 4:48 am“I’m not convinced a woman who lives in a patriarchal society can work as a prostitute and claim any sort of freedom, sexual or otherwise.”
It doesn’t really matter, pro-sex feminism is like the Jew the Nazis allow to live to trap other Jews. Why worry about it?
It seems almost, as if every ex-prostitute has written a book, and is not really ex, they’re just brassing it out, what they did, they’re the one in ten thousand, who gets to appear on TV.
Gregory
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pro-sex feminism is like the Jew the Nazis allow to live to trap other Jews. Why worry about it?
LOL.
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daniela Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 7:59 amhmmm. let me know when this kind of conference is on - i am particularly interested in literature within cultural and feminist studies context and narrative in general. and why not, on cute 30-something’s professors. Why not.
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I will let you know, Daniela! I know of a couple conferences you might be interested in this summer…
