Two weeks ago, we found out all about Nigerian literature; this time, as the climate gets considerably chilly at home we’re diverting to an altogether different kind – that is, the South American republic of Chile (please excuse the terrible pun…). Our tour guide is former Communications intern Mike Butler (who previously showed us around the literary delights of Iraq), who examines two of Chile’s finest writers…

‘We were going to be perfect, we were going to be brave, we were going to be beautiful’ – Jorge Guzman

If September 11th 2001 signalled the end of the 1990s, when the end of history had been declared and we were set to live under the aegis of a prosperous and triumphant liberal democratic system, then, as Christopher Hitchens observes, September 11th 1973 could be seen as the day when the curtain fell on the optimism and idealism of the 1960s. This was the date of the Chilean military coup led by Augusto Pinochet and backed by the White House administration of Nixon and Kissinger, which saw the bombing of the Presidential palace in Santiago and led to the death of the socialist-leaning President Salvador Allende; the rule of the ensuing military dictatorship would last until 1990.

Pablo Neruda, the most famous Spanish-language poet of the twentieth century, died twelve days later in unrelated circumstances. (The celebrated theatre director and folk singer Victor Jara was imprisoned, tortured and killed in what might be called ‘related circumstances’.) Neruda is best known for his early collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair, a series of sensuous and melancholic poems whose imagery draws heavily on the nature and wildlife of southern Chile. He was a member of the Chilean Communist Party and was a close associate of Allende, and his political awareness is displayed in poems such as The United Fruit Co. (the identification of whose corrupting influence in Latin America presaged that company’s role in the US-sponsored anti-socialist coup in Guatemala in 1954) and They Receive Instructions against Chile (‘they decide from above, from the roll of dollars, / … / and the trunk of the tree of the country rots’). Neruda was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971, joining his compatriot Gabriela Mistral, who became the first Latin American writer to win the prize in 1945.

‘Paul Celan shall rise from his ashes in the year 2113. André Breton shall return through mirrors in the year 2071. Max Jacob shall cease to be read, that is to say his last reader shall die, in the year 2059.’  If you enjoyed reading that sentence, from his 1999 novella Amulet, then you’ll probably enjoy the rest of Roberto Bolano’s oeuvre, most of which has been translated into English only since his death in 2003. He left Chile for Mexico at the age of fifteen and returned in August 1973 ‘to help build socialism’, although this ambition was soon thwarted by the circumstances outlined above. He was briefly imprisoned following the coup and left Chile for good soon after, although his work is haunted by the events of that year and the brutality of the subsequent junta and dictatorship.

Most of his stories and novels are about fictional or fictionalised poets and writers, although they express ambivalence and suspicion about literary writing: Nazi Literature in the Americas is a series of fictional biographies of Fascist or Fascist-sympathising writers; The Savage Detectives is centred on a pair of poets, including one ‘Arturo Belano’, whose work is largely forgotten. Bolano’s own writing has an unmannered and inconclusive style that brilliantly captures the messiness and disorder of real life; avoiding the imposition of any kind of false order or lyrical grandiosity and disregarding conventional narrative authority and clarity, it could be described as a kind of anti-fascist aesthetic.

Neruda also had a certain distrust of literature and books: ‘I am a man of bread and fish / and you won’t find me among books’, he writes in Such is my life, following Wordsworth and Whitman in giving an apparently self-negating precedence to direct experience over words on a page. In a similar vein, he writes that ‘poetry is like bread; it should be shared by all, by scholars and by peasants, by all our vast, incredible, extraordinary family of humanity.’ Neruda and Bolano seem to offer differing views on the importance of writing: for Neruda, ‘the poet of my people’, who read his work to a stadium of 70,000 of his compatriots after collecting his Nobel Prize, poetry is a vital part of the life of a society that should transcend books and learning; for Bolano, poets are frustrated outsiders who squabble amongst themselves and leave little of value behind. Either way, it’s hard not to be swayed by Neruda when he says that ‘the poet gives us a gallery full of ghosts shaken by the fire and darkness of his time’ – and there was certainly enough fire and darkness to keep Latin American poets well occupied during the twentieth century.

Over 250 years on (253 to be precise), the Ploughman Poet is still heralded as Scotland’s finest and his work holds a firm place in the heart of many a Scot, as well as people of various other nationalities. Just days ago, a poll questioning over 1,000 Scots about their ultimate Rabbie poem concluded the nation’s favourite to be the epic Tam O’Shanter, one of the first and arguably finest examples of narrative poetry. Coming in second place was A Man’s a Man for A’ That, with – very appropriately – Address To A Haggis just behind.

But you might not know that Rabbie was not just the poet of the people, but that A-list stars had a fondness for him too. In what is probably one of the most bizarre meetings of literature and music I have ever come across, it has been revealed that back in the late 1980′s Michael Jackson recorded a series of showtunes inspired by Burns’s life and work. The intriguing sounding collection has not seen the light of day before but is now to be donated to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Ayrshire, as a way of illustrating Burns’s “international, enduring artistic legacy”. Let’s hope the songs are more Bard than Bad (if you can come up with any better Burns/Jacko puns they’d be appreciated because that was, quite frankly, rubbish).

Seeing as today is not only Burns Night but also St Dwynwen’s Day – the Welsh Valentine’s Day – it seems only appropriate to mark the two occasions with what has to be Rabbie’s most romantic poem (which can also be found in Poems To Take Home). A bonnie Burns Night and Dydd Santes Dwynwen Hapus (‘Happy St Dwynwen’s Day’, for those of us who don’t speak Welsh) to all.

A Red, Red Rose

My luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
My luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly played in tune:

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till all the seas gang dry -

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun -
And I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run!

And fare thee weel, my only luve,
And fare thee weel, a while -
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!

Robert Burns

Novelist and flash fiction writer David Gaffney, author of Sawn-Off Tales (2006) and Aromabingo (2007), will be appearing at Spellow Library on Monday 30th January, 6pm-7:30pm. David will be discussing his recent book, The Half Life of Songs.

Then, on Wednesday 1st February, 6pm-7:30pm, Childwall Library will play host to Gladys Mary Coles. Best known as a poet, with publications including The Song of the Butcher Bird (2006) and The Echoing Green (2002), Gladys will discuss her body of work and her debut novel, Clay.

Entrance for both events is free and seating is available on a first come, first served basis. Copies of the authors’ books will be on sale.

For more information about the David Gaffney event, please contact Spellow Library, County Road, L4 3QF; 0151 293 8365.

For more information about the Gladys Mary Coles event, please contact Childwall Library, Fiveways Centre, L15 6UT; 0151 233 2746.

For more information on Liverpool Libraries see www.liverpool.gov.uk.

For more information on regional events, reading groups and suggestions for further reading, see www.time-to-read.co.uk.

Editor: Please not that there was an error in the date of the Childwall event. This event will actually be taking place on Wednesday 1st February.

Woods in Winter – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Many of us might have indulged a little too much to feel like moving from the comfort of the sofa but a bracing walk in a winter wonderland has its upsides too – even with ‘chill airs and wintry winds’ there’s still goodness to be found…

The Sleigh-Bells – Susanna Moodie

It’s a little late for Santa’s sleigh now but this conjures up gorgeous images of dashing through the snow (if there is any) – surely it’s the only way to ride…

Snow – Archibald Lampman

The white stuff that falls from the sky divides opinion – some rejoice to see it, others pray it will go away swiftly. Whether or not it’s been a white Christmas, this poem provides a very pretty poetic picture.

Behold, as Goblins Dark of Mien – Robert Louis Stevenson

Pantomimes are part and parcel of a traditional British Christmas; this one is slightly dark in tone but fear not – its goblins are tempered with Fairy Queens…

The Sorcerer’s Song – W.S. Gilbert

What is the Christmas season if not filled with magic? And there’s tons of it here…

The Palace of Humbug – Lewis Carroll

If you’re rather tired of endless Christmas parties then you may be amused to read this poem. Humbug isn’t just the domain of Ebenezer Scrooge…

One Year Ago – jots what? – Emily Dickinson

Twelve months seems like a lot but really, it goes really quite rapidly indeed – as Emily Dickinson observes.

New Year’s Chimes – Francis Thompson

This poem is a veritable feast for the senses with all its superb sights and singing sounds. There’s no better way to close the year and see in the new one with a song – or indeed “with a million songs as song of one.”

A Song for New Year’s Eve – William Cullen Bryant

Keeping on the musical theme – a merry way to welcome the New Year. “The good old year is with the past; Oh be the new as kind!”

Song of Hope – Thomas Hardy

All of us go into a New Year with renewed hope for the future. This poem by Hardy sings out with hope for a tomorrow with a hope that is gleaming “dimmed by no gray”. Surely the best outlook to approach 2012.

The first selection is thoroughly and unashamedly all about Christmas itself, with plenty of treats to choose from. Enjoy.

Christmas Fancies – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A lovely poem that signals how the joy of Christmas can overpower the grey gloom of winter and other everyday troubles – is there any happier sound than the Christmas bells ‘pelting the air with silver chimes?’

Ceremonies For Christmas – Robert Herrick

We all have a number of ‘ceremonies’ to perform at this time of year, many of them involving food in abundance. And this poem contains meat, mince pies, plums and beer…(it’ll either make your mouth water or serve as a shopping list)

Voices In The Mist – Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Something of an eerie scenario is set in the still, silent and misty night before Christmas – but happily, Christmas spirit is not absent.

A Hymn on the Nativity of My Savior – Ben Jonson

No Christmas would be complete without a Nativity scene and this is a particularly eloquent portrayal. “Can Man forget this story?” Jonson asks. We can’t possibly argue.

The Burning Babe – Robert Southwell

Another vision of the Nativity; from an onlooker in the cold who is warmed by the bright glow and love emanating from the infant Christ.

Minstrels – William Wordsworth

Christmas is also a time for music – carolling or otherwise. Here, the air is filled with an enchanting Christmas tune played by a group of minstrels and heard by people far and wide.

The Mahogany Tree – William Makepeace Thackeray

Towering or tiny, authentic or artificial – Christmas trees are one of the most cheering sights of the season; and here, the ideal gathering point for many a Christmas get-together.

This Section Is A Christmas Tree – Vachel Lindsay

Another ode to the Christmas tree – this one loaded with lots of lovely delights and pretty toys…

Christmas In India – Rudyard Kipling

One for globetrotters or perhaps those who fancy escaping the fierce winter chill – a celebration of Christmas in a far hotter clime…

Love Came Down At Christmas – Christina Rossetti

Many different emotions can come to characterise Christmas (not all of them good…), but Christina Rossetti reminds of the one that overrides them all – love.

One of the most recent studies exploring exactly what wonders reading can do comes from an incredibly prestigious source – and has unearthed some astonishing and really quite heartening results . Research carried out by Oxford University has found that poetry is not just, as John Keats would put it, a Thing of Beauty, but also acts as a comforter, makes us feel better and significantly shapes our sense of self and identity; all factors which most certainly count for a lot. In particular it’s the poems that come from our childhood and early adulthood – and especially those we’ve read so much that we’ve committed them firmly to memory and can recite them off by heart – that offer the most consolation to us; and in this way and others, they contribute to making us who we are. Remarkable stuff indeed. The findings of the Oxford study have been backed up by very similar research from the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences at the University of Reading which is looking into the relationship between poetry and memory and specifically, the ways that people remember poems that are personally significant to them. Head researcher Dr Clare Rathbone has identified that poetry that is so well known it could almost be part of our DNA is strongly centred in our individual ‘reminiscence bumps’ – the memories that each of us can most readily recall. Such memories are ingrained into our very beings, and such findings are testament to the ability of poetry to eke them out; most certainly they support the incredibly vital work The Reader Organisation does reading and sharing poems with dementia patients.

It’s not so surprising to discover that poems we know inside out through frequent reading and recitation, ones that we cherish and have poured so much meaning – and of ourselves – into should figure so vividly in our minds and memories, but the fact that collections of words and created images are quite so significant that they connect to or entirely supersede other reminiscences and recollections is quite extraordinary in itself. I know I can let major events pass me by without so much as a second thought months or years down the line (and don’t even attempt to test my long-gone learning of history, science or the solar system), but a line, lyric or vision of a scene glimpsed for a moment can remain as crystal clear as when they first occurred or were happened upon. Summarising what I’d suspect is a rather common occurrence when it comes to what our brain retains is Thomas Bailey Aldrich, in a poem short, sweet and succinct enough to be able to easily commit to memory – which is quite handy, considering.

Memory

My mind lets go a thousand things,
Like dates of wars and deaths of kings,
And yet recalls the very hour–
‘Twas noon by yonder village tower,
And on the last blue noon in May–
The wind came briskly up this way,
Crisping the brook beside the road;
Then, pausing here, set down its load
Of pine-scents, and shook listlessly
Two petals from that wild-rose tree.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907)

The festive season has officially begun!

Last night saw The Reader Organisation once again take over the small concert room in St George’s Hall for our annual Dickensian extravaganza, the Penny Readings.

Judging by the reaction from the audience and on Twitter, the night was a resounding success.

“It was a perfect evening”

“The Penny Readings by @thereaderorg was fantastic. Completely surpassed my expectations. So entertaining, accessible and cultural!”

“Maybe only at Liverpool’s ‘Penny Readings‘ d’ya get David Morrissey being Macbeth on the same bill as a ukulele orchestra #splendidtime”

Frank Cottrell Boyce had the audience in stitches, magician Darren Campbell left us dazed and confused, we had some wonderful readings from The Reader Organisation’s very own Angela Macmillan, Casi Dylan and Beverley LaRoc, whilst Raven Sinclair-Edmonds treated us to some…interesting poetry of her own. The musical talents of trumpeter Grace Farrington and pianist Jasmine Scarisbrick were followed by the stunning voice of Lauren Spink, whilst the Wirral Ukulele Orchestra brought the house down with their flamboyant Hawaiian shirts and Santa hats.

Our special guest David Morrissey read a passage from Our Mutual Friend and performed one of Macbeth’s most famous speeches in homage to his recent starring role at the Everyman Theatre.

The evening was rounded off by the traditional rendition of a passage from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol by Professor Phil Davis. No doubt the great man himself would have approved of this early start to his bicentenary celebrations.

Our younger readers weren’t forgotten in all this excitement, as we held our second Ha’Penny Readings earlier in the day. Kids young and old enjoyed an afternoon of laughter and Christmas cheer led by MC extraordinaire Patrick Fisher and his friends from improv comedy group Sticky Floor. The Christmas party attended by Jedward, Horrid Henry and a hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex was the stuff of nightmares!

“Wacky fun!”

Pianist Jasmine popped up again with a wonderful composition of her own, there were more readings by Angela Macmillan, whilst Scream Street author Tommy Donbavand roped in some audience members to help act out a story of werewolves, mummies, vampires and dragons. Two of our Young Person’s Project workers, Samantha Shipman and Anna Fleming, entertained the audience with their favourite festive poems; Anna was especially convincing as a bird from ‘Turkeys United’ demanding ‘No to Cuts!’. There was even a special appearance from Santa Claus, who took time out of his busy schedule to read a little something and deliver a gift to all those readers who fulfilled his ‘naughty or nice’ criteria.

If you were at either event, we’d love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment below.

A big thank you to everyone who made the day such a special one – time to start planning next year!

In this issue, Jeanette Winterson talks with Jane Davis about her recently published memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?,  (Jonathan Cape, October 2011)  a title which is taken from the question Jeanette’s stepmother asked her when as a teenager she decided to leave home so as to live with the woman she loved. In this searching interview she talks movingly about the book’s main subject matter, her suicidal breakdown and the search for her birth mother that followed on from it. Extracts from the book are interspersed throughout making a dazzling introduction to the book and a valuable insight into this author.

We have fine poetry from Peter Robinson and Julie-Ann Rowell, and Kate Miller is the latest to take us behind the scenes of her poetry in ‘Poet on her Work’.

In fiction, Gabriel Josipovici gives us a Christmas story with a twist, while in ‘Shine’, B. J. Epstein writes a modern Cinderella story. Keeping up the festive spirit Ian McMillan takes us back to his early Christmases. To help parents and our readers with young friends, we recommend seasonal books for children of all ages. Who could resist this face?

We have a diverse assortment of subjects in our essays, with Brigid Lowe Crawford talking about taking time out from work to raise her family and the objections she meets from disapproving (mostly male) former colleagues. Malcolm Bennett writes on ear wax and Alan Wall continues his series on the oddities of language.

Click here to buy a copy for yourself and one as the perfect Christmas present for the literature-lover in your life…   

This  vibrant anthology explores the theme of survival, with poems about war, weather, growing ill and growing old as well as about cities and landscapes, art and music, trees and turtles and the many things that add richness to our lives.

Featuring many established poets such as Patience Agbabi, David Harsent, and TRO supporter Rebecca Goss, the anthology also introduces the work of exciting new writers. It is  due to be launched on 6^th December with an event at Keynes College, University of Kent.

To find out more about WordAid, the book, and to purchase a copy, please visit:  http://wordaid.blogspot.com/p/publications.html.