Our cultural references say a lot about our selves, and how we define our sense of self. What are we without our favourite book, the first book we ever read, and what we write in our diaries?
Our cultural references say a lot about our selves, and how we define our sense of self. What are we without our favourite book, the first book we ever read, and what we write in our diaries?
These literary modes of explaining the self were elaborated upon in a unique panel discussion that included Pauline Melville, the Guyanese-born writer and actor, Glaswegian novelist James Kelman, Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif, and Indian author, Githa Hariharan.
“For me, conventional English was always an elitist thing. I’m sure it’s something that an Indian audience would identify with — having to drown your accent in the name of economic progress. A Scottish working class voice could be in books, it could be a character that adds ‘colour’, but we couldn’t f**king write ‘em,” said Kelman.
The author spoke of how he turned to Russian writers like Dostoevsky and the impact they had on him. He also described his unique initiation into writing and the first remuneration he got from it. “I started writing because I had no other choice. I was broke, unbelievably no-money-at-all broke. I couldn’t even buy food or cigarettes. I was sitting on the road and writing on a notebook which I had stolen from someone else. I’m writing, I’m filling up this book from edge to edge to save paper, and this Parsi gentleman saw me. He went into his home and got me an orange, a boiled egg, and three cigarettes,” he laughs.
At what point does a reader become a writer? This question led the authors to explore their own motivations, which ranged from domestic boredom to a lack of career options. “I was on maternity leave, which no one ever tells you can be a very boring time,” said Soueif dryly. “It’s wonderful having a child, but babies can’t talk. I started writing to have a conversation with the only other person there — myself.”
Melville remembered the time it took for her to gather the self-belief to be a writer. “I thought I had to live life, to experience everything before I could write. But then I noticed that half of all writers are sitting in their living room and just making things up as they go along,” she laughed. “I had been wasting time. So I just decided that from now on, I’m a writer.”
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