Reflections on a Reading Event with Jenni Fagan Saturday 20th August At the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Jessie Kesson THE WHITE BIRD PASSES (TWBP).
Sunday, 21 Aug 2016, 11:31
Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Steve Bamlett, Friday, 26 Aug 2016, 11:05
When readers and writers mix it should be a joyous occasion -
and this was a joyous occasion. When a great living writer communes with a great
writer now living only in their recorded words, it is also an august one.
We need to get the match of joy and seriousness right and I
don’t believe we are there yet.
Jenni Fagan outlined – almost imperceptibly the grounds of
her converse with Kesson:
·disempowered or marginalised linguistic
traditions (by which we do not mean just Kesson’s Doric);
·a background in ‘care’;
·isolation from cultural models that could
feedback to her as she grows and develops as a writer;
·an engaging interest in the social roots of
women’s contact with mental health diagnosis.
And, most important of all, the subject of CLASS and the
means by which voicelessness is experienced not only by women but by the
working class and perhaps doubly by working class women.
How do these narratives get into an acceptable mix? How are
voices released in group discussion? These are the questions that remained to
be answered in the session though no-one doubted the wish to realise them.
What did we gain? There was almost too much to easily
quantify but its quality was strong. I could not catch (poor Yorkshire man that
I am) the second name of Jessie’s friend, there with her husband – but Suzi and
Don brought a wealth of experience into this session. Suzi had worked with
Jessie (the latter unpaid other than by a ‘bottle of whiskey’) in a social care
facility for young women who had experienced backgrounds in care or need for it
and severe mental health effects consequent on abuse.
Suzi shared letters from JK – little segmented notes in
envelopes in a tiny handwritten script that mimicked her voice by the use of
capitals, underlining and space. And what a voice! Unafraid of using direct
language. There is in Kesson a direct link to the linguistic energy of James
Kelman – all in search of a truth through an inclusive art. Suzi recalled JK’s
longing to write ‘the big truths like Shakespeare had’.
And that is what Jenni Fagan stressed. This ‘autobiography’
was a piece of writing that was consummate in its writing effects – rewritten
over 15 versions. She found truths in stories and songs. Suzi sang one ending:
‘I just want to be home – ho-ho- home’.
Think what strength of meaning lay for JK in the word ‘Home’
(with or without a capital letter) and its roots in the language of the
dispossessed – those taken from home to a ‘Home’ (the subject of TWBP and The Panopticon). Thank you Jenni Fagan.
Just one concern. Writers live and die as ‘reading’ for
someone. The bookshop in the EIBF stocked NOT ONE title from Kesson’s oeuvre.
Were they out of print? Maybe? Was that registered and its meaning to the life
and death of literary cultures – by Jenni Fagan yes – but by the Festival administration?
No! It is a parlous fault. Jessie requires an apology! In my earlier review, I
said, ‘it is another sign of English ignorance of great Scottish literature
that she is in danger now of being forgotten’. It is paramount then that
Scotland refuses to do the same. Let’s write to Nicola Sturgeon. That person
knows her stuff in literature!
Reflections on a Reading Event with Jenni Fagan Saturday 20th August At the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Jessie Kesson THE WHITE BIRD PASSES (TWBP).
Novel reviewed
When readers and writers mix it should be a joyous occasion - and this was a joyous occasion. When a great living writer communes with a great writer now living only in their recorded words, it is also an august one.
We need to get the match of joy and seriousness right and I don’t believe we are there yet.
Jenni Fagan outlined – almost imperceptibly the grounds of her converse with Kesson:
How do these narratives get into an acceptable mix? How are voices released in group discussion? These are the questions that remained to be answered in the session though no-one doubted the wish to realise them.
What did we gain? There was almost too much to easily quantify but its quality was strong. I could not catch (poor Yorkshire man that I am) the second name of Jessie’s friend, there with her husband – but Suzi and Don brought a wealth of experience into this session. Suzi had worked with Jessie (the latter unpaid other than by a ‘bottle of whiskey’) in a social care facility for young women who had experienced backgrounds in care or need for it and severe mental health effects consequent on abuse.
Suzi shared letters from JK – little segmented notes in envelopes in a tiny handwritten script that mimicked her voice by the use of capitals, underlining and space. And what a voice! Unafraid of using direct language. There is in Kesson a direct link to the linguistic energy of James Kelman – all in search of a truth through an inclusive art. Suzi recalled JK’s longing to write ‘the big truths like Shakespeare had’.
And that is what Jenni Fagan stressed. This ‘autobiography’ was a piece of writing that was consummate in its writing effects – rewritten over 15 versions. She found truths in stories and songs. Suzi sang one ending: ‘I just want to be home – ho-ho- home’.
Think what strength of meaning lay for JK in the word ‘Home’ (with or without a capital letter) and its roots in the language of the dispossessed – those taken from home to a ‘Home’ (the subject of TWBP and The Panopticon). Thank you Jenni Fagan.
Just one concern. Writers live and die as ‘reading’ for someone. The bookshop in the EIBF stocked NOT ONE title from Kesson’s oeuvre. Were they out of print? Maybe? Was that registered and its meaning to the life and death of literary cultures – by Jenni Fagan yes – but by the Festival administration? No! It is a parlous fault. Jessie requires an apology! In my earlier review, I said, ‘it is another sign of English ignorance of great Scottish literature that she is in danger now of being forgotten’. It is paramount then that Scotland refuses to do the same. Let’s write to Nicola Sturgeon. That person knows her stuff in literature!
All the best
Steve