The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| London home of Charles Dickens open after renovation Posted: 11 Dec 2012 12:50 AM PST  A general view shows the Charles Dickens Museum in central London December 10, 2012. — Reuters pic Dickens lived at 48 Doughty Street in central London with his family between 1837 and 1839. There, in his mid-20s, he wrote "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickleby", novels that made him a rising literary star. The four-storey brick row house was restored to its early Victorian splendour to feel less like a museum and more atmospheric, museum director Florian Schweizer told Reuters. "We wanted to recreate it like a home, so visitors could feel like they're actually visiting Charles Dickens and that he might step back in at any time," Schweizer said. Inaugurated in 1925, the museum is the author's only surviving London house. Its redesign, largely funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund, comes in the year marking the 200th anniversary of Dickens's birth in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and opens the house's kitchen and attic to the public for the first time. Visitors are guided through the dimly lit home not by museum signage on the walls but painted silhouettes of a young Dickens, with long hair and no beard, challenging the mainstream image of "the older Dickens", said Schweizer. They can tour the writer's dining room, wine cellar ("Dickens loved his booze"), bedroom and study. There, surrounded by ceiling-high bookshelves, stands the author's original desk, where he finished "The Pickwick Papers" and dreamed up the characters of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. "He could have just been a one-novel sensation, but it was here that he built on that first reputation made with The Pickwick Papers, and by the time he moved out it was pretty clear he was there to stay," Schweizer said, noting the house had an "inspirational" dimension, especially for young visitors. "It's the beginning of a career - that makes it special." Immersive Dickens lived in the house with his wife Catherine, the eldest three of their 10 children and his sister-in-law Mary.  A visitor views the Mary Hogarth room of the Charles Dickens Museum in central London December 10, 2012. — Reuters pic The bedroom she died in is a space to reflect on the author's relationship with death and displays extremely rare photographs of the 1865 railway accident in Staplehurst, Kent, which Dickens survived with his young mistress Ellen Ternan. This "more evocative, more immersive" version of the 87-year-old museum will offer guided costumed tours and workshops for school groups, Schweizer said. The museum has also expanded into neighbouring 49 Doughty Street, which has been transformed into a learning centre to accommodate school trips and improve access for the disabled. It features, until February, costumes from the recent film adaptation of Dickens' novel "Great Expectations", including that of Abel Magwitch, played by Ralph Fiennes, and Miss Havisham, played by Helena Bonham Carter. The Charles Dickens Museum has so far welcomed about 30,000 visitors per year, with almost half coming from overseas, and numbers are expected to rise to 45,000 in 2013. — Reuters |
| Posted: 10 Dec 2012 05:13 PM PST Dec 11 – "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere." ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird Step 1: Butter your bread
I had taken Anne Lamott's advice and written about my childhood. I shared how I used to dread my mundane and never-changing breakfast food – bread and butter, and little else. I had no idea if anyone would read it; I was sure no one would because my editor would probably see the error of her ways in asking me (she must have meant another Kenny, I thought, possibly one who could actually write) and throw my submission into her rubbish pile. Imagine my surprise when I opened my Internet browser one morning and saw my article published. Not quite in print, if one insists on the paper version or nothing, but certainly in print in the only way that matters i.e. are there people reading this? As it turned out, there were people reading it – readers who, judging by the comments they left, empathised with my slice of childhood days. Nostalgia can be a powerful way to connect and to unite. Readers of all races and ages shared their own stories of bread and butter; some had it with granulated sugar sprinkled on top, some had it as toast, and some had it just like the way I did. One primary school friend messaged me out of the blue, after years of not being in touch, simply to tell me that he had bread and butter for breakfast too. And then: "Are you a writer now?" How did I answer him? How do I answer? I had written one article, sure. But does that make one a writer – simply the act of writing? I certainly didn't think so, to be honest, and so I told my friend no, I was not a writer. Still, it occurred to me afterwards, I was not not a writer either. If I wrote more, would I be on my way to becoming one? "I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good at it." ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird Step 2: Find your voice A few months ago, I was invited to be a speaker at this writing seminar for young writers. I had been writing for several publications by this time and more importantly, writing on a regular basis, but I truly didn't feel like a writer yet. Why on earth was I asked to speak on writing then? No clue, really. Perhaps there was a slip-up in the invitation process (the shade of The Other Kenny reappears again, like a bad plot device); it wasn't me whom they wanted.
Then it was my turn. I got up, looked at the young faces seated before me, eager for knowledge and fearful at the same time that they might not make some invisible cut to become writers, and I recognised them. I used to be them. I was still them, to be honest. "I have bad news for you," I told them, "there's no such thing as finding your voice in writing. You will never find it." A pause; tiny hearts about to break, and then I continued, "You will never find it because you don't need to. You already have your voice. You, all of you, are already unique and have interesting things to tell us, to tell me. You have stories." Another pause, then: "But these stories aren't going to come out on their own. You have to write them. You have to sit down every day and write. You have to find the time to write somehow. You have to find the discipline. You will discover all these wonderful things – perspective and tone and style – eventually; but first, you have to write." It hit me then, as I hope it hit the participants, that I did write and I have been writing consistently now for some time. Isn't that what writers do – write? Smiling, finally understanding it myself, I reminded the audience: "Just write." "You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better." ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird Step 3: Make good art Two last pieces of advice; one from an editor and the other from a poet; both are writers and very serious about it. My editor reminds me constantly that as a writer, our job is to write and to get on with it; there is nothing glamorous about writing – it's all hard work. Our satisfaction comes from the process and from the knowledge we have done a good job, even if we will never think our writing is good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect; only honest, real and filled with passion. We must never fake it. My poet friend told me that one of our favourite authors, Neil Gaiman, had once recommended that all artists have a responsibility to "make good art"; and this has made me realise that writing is a privilege. We must not squander this gift. There is no value in the pen that is not picked up and put to paper. There is no waiting. Make good art and make it now. Just write. "Don't look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance." ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott (Pantheon Books, 1994) * Kenny is a writer. Read more of his stories at http://lifeforbeginners.com. |
Giving yourself an opportunity to chase your dream may be the kindest thing you can do for yourself. I gave myself this opportunity 11 months ago when I accepted an assignment and wrote an article for this publication, for this very column, in fact.
The topic of the workshop was "Finding Your Own Voice in Writing", a theme which the first speaker, a noted author of over half a dozen books, expanded upon as covering perspective, personality, style, theme, belief, tone and desire. You had to be unique, she said. In other words, if you studied these aspects carefully, you will discover your own uniqueness, your own voice.| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Books To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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