Alan Garner chat transcript

[altariel]

Thank you to the wondrous katlinel for directing me to this transcript of a webchat with Alan Garner, in which land, language, writing and history are discussed, and the phrase "Mabinogiongoing plans" is coined.

communicator, this remark may interest you, about not-writing:

"I look on the 'down' as an imposed period of hibernation that allows the unconscious and creative mind to overcome the rational intellect."

Comments

[manna]

I really liked:

I never talk about something new until it's finished. It's much easier to talk than to do, and, in the kitchen, it's not wise to lift the lid on a pressure cooker. Also, I don't know much about what the thing is yet; only that I'm pregnant. The foetus has to grow freely, and to say anything about it would be to put a corset around it and risk stunting the development.

Corseted fetus. Dude. Now there's an image that'll linger.


Also this one:

Objectively, I know that something complex is going on, but subjectively I'm a spectator, relaying what I see and hear. I don't lay much claim to being a writer; but I am a fairly high-grade piece of conductive copper.

And in anwer to the question 'What is your idea of postmodernism in contemporary literature, and what is your opinion of the postmodernist novel?':

Writers have no concern with this kind of question. And, since the theorists are still arguing about the terminology and meaning, until there is more light than heat I can answer only that it is a load of deconstructed bollocks.

Ahahahahaaaaa!


{in passing smacks the morons using the internet to whine about the ugliness of the modern world}

[altariel.livejournal.com]

smacks the morons using the internet to whine about the ugliness of the modern world

I tssked at them too.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I don't see any inconsistency between liking one bit of the modern world, and disliking another. Why not? Its going to change whether we like it or not, why not try to steer it so it has more things we like?

[manna]

I don't see any inconsistency between liking one bit of the modern world, and disliking another.

There are ways of expressing it, though, which don't make my teeth itch by making the writer sound oh-so-very precious and special.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

"I look on the 'down' as an imposed period of hibernation that allows the unconscious and creative mind to overcome the rational intellect."

I can certainly relate to that. Virtually all of the writing I do these days is in the fantasy worldbuilding vein, and I find I have to set the world aside for a few months now and again because my creativity simply runs dry.

I seem to recall a piece in the Guardian (by Karen Armstrong?) some months ago making much the same point.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I call this process 'mulching', when I'm storing away bits of experience and letting them ferment.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

>Mabinogiongoing

Brilliance!


I have never read Alan Garner before. I shall have to. Thank you for bringing him and his former Mabinogiongoing to my attention!
:)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh definitely track down Alan Garner, he is wonderful! Not well enough known outside this country.

His first two books, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath I find quite Tolkien derivative, but with books like The Owl Service and Red Shift his individual voice comes through. My favourite of his is The Stone Book Quartet.

[steverogerson.livejournal.com]

Weirdstone of Brisingamen was the Garner book I read, and I was about ten years old and loved it. I have since read Moon of Gomrath and Elidor, both when I was not much older, and it is Elidor that sticks in my mind as the favourite,

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I think you'd like his later stuff. Red Shift is pretty special.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

As in Not Stupid, Not Expendable, Mabinogiongoing Plans?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Them's the ones!

*is a little embarrassed*

[pretty-poodle.livejournal.com]

Hey, Una! Could you do me the biggest favor in the world?

My friend reilyn_no_yumme is working on a report for class exploring different careers, and she was wondering about professional writing. If you have a little spare time could you tell her a bit about it, please? I would be *so* grateful. (We're trying to get all the information first hand!)

Re: *is a little embarrassed*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Of course, no problem - I love talking about myself! ;-D I can't get that link to your friend's journal to work though - do you just want to email me directly?

Re: *is a little embarrassed*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's OK - I had a cup of coffee and then was able to work out that if I went to your friends' list, I could find your friend... ;-D

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a chance to read that yet, but I wanted to just say thanks for that link. He refuses to use Lithium to control his bipolar disorder. I don't know whether he's right to make that decision or not, but it must be linked to his idea of depression as fallow/mulching period.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There was a TV programme a few years back where they put Barney Sumner from New Order on Prozac to see if it affected his creativity.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Jeez, what happened?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Embarrassingly, now I've mentioned it, I can't actually remember. I think IanG saw it, I'll try to remember to ask him about it.