Hey y'all.
Here's to you some inspirations 'On History and Writing'. Enjoy.
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Until next time - Majken xx
Don’t trust your memory
When I spend time reading through sources, I look at them critically from different perspectives. Like why is it told in this way? Does the sender have a specific agenda - perhaps even a hidden agenda? Also, there’s the perspective of remembrance: How well do the people involved remember that particular thing they are talking about when it comes to it? I can, of course, not know about this for sure, but the TED talk How reliable is your memory? - Made me aware of how it’s more common than we think to remember things differently from how they really happened. As the speaker, professor in psychology Elizabeth Loftus, says, memories are not like a machine that records what happened and which you afterwards can play and relive. It’s more like an article on Wikipedia you can write and then edit - and which others can edit too. Memories are constructed and re-constructed over and over again. Some of them are true, and some are false, and often it is, she concludes, difficult to distinguish one from the other.
Unidentified Floating Objects
During the 1800s, several strange floating objects were discovered on beaches on the coastline of Japan. Were these utsuro-bune, as they are named (meaning hollow or vacant ship), simply boats from strange countries very far away? Or were they indeed vessels made by beings from outside planet Earth? Some modern ufologists hope that the resemblance between the utsuro-bune and the UFO, nicknamed “flying saucers,” discovered in the mid-1900s, is the key to solving the mystery of modern UFOs. Until it’s all figured out, you can at least enjoy the lovely utsuro-bune illustrations.
Politics at a women’s hair salon
I was pleased to watch the short documentary Ain't No Time For Women by director Sarra El Abed in which we get a glimpse of the world of Tunisian women discussing politics in one of the best places to discuss such topics: the hair salon. Oh, I’d love to be part of a local neighbourhood like this! The year is 2019, and a new presidential election is coming up. Which candidates are to be trusted when you are a woman and want to keep expanding your opportunities? There are different opinions on the subject, just as there should be. And laughter, haircutting, hair colouring, drinking of coffee and friendly teasing too. What a heartwarming and interesting movie from a rarely seen corner of the world.
Inspirations from the depths of our personality
The American author Mason Currey has collected the working routines and inspirations of more than one hundred and sixty of the greatest philosophers, writers, composers and artists in his book Daily Rituals. Here’s one on Samuel Beckett, which, to me, first and foremost, is an inspiration to embrace who you are - no matter what that is - and to unapologetically bring this you into the world. For example, through the creative work you do. Beckett apparently struggled with this - and so do so many of us, too, I reckon. Because…who am I, truly? And do I dare show this ‘Me’ to the world? However, as Beckett found out, there are strong powers hidden right there in the depths of our personality.
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)
In 1946, Beckett began a period of intense creative activity that he would later refer to as “the siege in the room.” Over the next few years he would produce his finest work - the novels Molloy and Malone Dies, and the play that would make him famous, Waiting for Godot. The Scots-Irish writer and academic Paul Strathern describes Beckett’s life during the siege:
It was spent largely in his room, isolated from the world, coming face to face with his own demons, attempting to explore the workings of his mind. His routine was for the most part simple enough. He would rise around the early hours of the afternoon, make himself scrambled eggs, and retire to his room for as many hours as he could bear. He would then leave for his late-night perambulation of the bars of Montparnasse, drinking copious amounts of cheap red wine, returning before dawn and the long attempt to sleep. His entire life revolved around his almost psychotic obsession to write.
The siege began with an epiphany. On a late night walk near Dublin harbor, Beckett found himself standing on the end of a pier in the midst of a winter storm. Amid the howling wind and churning water, he suddenly realised that the “dark he had struggled to keep under” in his life - and in his writing, which had until then failed to find an audience or meet his own aspirations - should, in fact, be the source of his creative inspiration. “I shall always be depressed,” Beckett concluded, “but what comforts me is the realization that I can now accept this dark side as the commanding side of my personality. In accepting it, I will make it work for me.”
[IN Daily Rituals - How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work by Mason Currey, 2014, p. 90-91]
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‘On History and Writing’ is a blog post from me to you in which I share historically rooted real-life stories from around the world - told in exciting and creative ways - along with thoughts that circle the creative process of writing non-fiction texts. I post an email once every fortnight. If you're not already a subscriber, you are welcome to join the list. Thanks for reading! Majken xx
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