0:00:05 > 0:00:07Now it's time for Meet the Author.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Blake Morrison has packed a lot into his career.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12A former newspaper literary editor, he became a full-time writer in 1995
0:00:12 > 0:00:14and has gone on to publish award-winning novels,
0:00:14 > 0:00:20poetry and nonfiction.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22He's probably best known for his bestselling memoir,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25"And When Did You Last See Your Father?", which was turned
0:00:25 > 0:00:28into a film starring Colin Firth.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31So, perhaps it is entirely fitting that his latest
0:00:31 > 0:00:32novel is about writers.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35The Executor follows a man who becomes the literary executor
0:00:35 > 0:00:38of an old friend and poet, and the moral dilemmas he faces
0:00:38 > 0:00:43when he uncovers unpublished and potentially explosive material.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Blake Morrison, The Executor raises a whole host of ethical issues,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07not least of which is what's more important, the right
0:01:07 > 0:01:10to privacy or the right to freedom of expression?
0:01:10 > 0:01:16What was the starting point for the novel?
0:01:16 > 0:01:19I suppose I have been very conscious in recent years of a lot
0:01:19 > 0:01:21of controversies about writers publishing stuff that
0:01:21 > 0:01:23other people perhaps, members of the family,
0:01:23 > 0:01:31feel is painful, exposing, that they don't like.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Sometimes they seek legal action to stop such a book,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36or whatever it is, appearing.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39So, I think there are moral dilemmas for writers.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41And I think these days the rights of the written-about seem
0:01:41 > 0:01:43to have come to the fore.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46So, it is an old argument.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48But I think there have been lots of cases,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50particularly biographies, that have come out where
0:01:50 > 0:01:51members of the family really objected to them.
0:01:51 > 0:01:58This question has become fresh again.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Because what happens in this book is that the wife of the poet objects
0:02:02 > 0:02:07to some of the poems that the executor, Matt, has found.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10I suppose what is at the heart of that is what's more important,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13the wishes of the living or the wishes of the dead?
0:02:13 > 0:02:13Where do you stand?
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Is it a case of publish and be dammned?
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Well, I'm a bit softer on all that.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26I like to think I would consult members of my family
0:02:26 > 0:02:31if something deeply sensitive was about to be published.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32And generally ask people.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34But then I know writers who are quite brutal about it.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37You know, they assert their right to write whatever they choose,
0:02:37 > 0:02:38and to hell with it.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40I think it's a balance to be struck.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43I think it's a matter of individual conscience.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45But certainly there are cases where you are going to expose other
0:02:45 > 0:02:47people by something you've written.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50And they're not always going to necessarily go along with it.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52I think have been lucky, the memoirs I've written,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55I haven't had a huge comeback from my family, lots of people
0:02:55 > 0:02:56complaining or anything like that.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59But I am conscious of cases where that sort of thing has happened.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02There's a further twist in this book, if you like,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06in that it's not just the reputation of the wife, it's actually the poet
0:03:06 > 0:03:09himself which could be damaged.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12I was very struck by one particular line, where you wrote,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14the life was one thing, the work another.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17A nasty man might still be a great poet.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21And looking at the, I don't know, alleged misdemeanours
0:03:21 > 0:03:23of someone like Kevin Spacey, I wondered how possible
0:03:23 > 0:03:33you thought it was to separate the art from the artist?
0:03:33 > 0:03:36I think, again, if you look to the history of writing,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38you're going to come across many authors who were not
0:03:38 > 0:03:39very nice people.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42I'm very conscious in my lifetime, because I met him, what a bad
0:03:42 > 0:03:45reputation Philip Larkin developed, the poet, after his death.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And yet he seems to me one of the great 20th-century poets,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51and nothing that he wrote, for me, is tainted by the fact
0:03:51 > 0:03:56that he was accused of racism and misogyny and so on.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58So, I think this is a really difficult one.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Could I now watch a Kevin Spacey film and not be troubled,
0:04:02 > 0:04:03knowing what I know about him?
0:04:03 > 0:04:06I like to think that maybe, yes, the integrity of the film doesn't
0:04:06 > 0:04:12suffer from what we know about the man.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16But I would assert it all the more in the case of writers.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Yes, unless, I suppose, it implies tacit approval on our part,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23if we continue to read their work, watch the films etc?
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Yeah, I think we can like the work and condemn
0:04:25 > 0:04:30the person for their actions in their private life.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33But the art, the work, it does, for me, always stand a little
0:04:33 > 0:04:38apart from the life.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40There's another line in the book where the poet says there's no
0:04:40 > 0:04:43point being a poet now, if you're white, middle-aged,
0:04:43 > 0:04:44middle-class and English, you are a dinosaur.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47I did just wonder if there are white, middle-class,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49young English male poets watching this, you telling
0:04:49 > 0:04:55them to give up now?
0:04:55 > 0:04:56No, I certainly wouldn't do that.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59You have to allow for the particular guy who is saying this, Rob,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02who's just got to that point of becoming a grumpy old man.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04He feels a bit sidelined.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06He's had enormous success early in his career,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08and now he looks around and is a younger generation,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11a generation of people where gender and ethnicity are perhaps different
0:05:11 > 0:05:13from his, and he misses the success he had.
0:05:13 > 0:05:20So I think you've got to allow for his prejudice.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22No, I think any young, talented poet should just keep going.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Robert Pope also says at one point poets should not get
0:05:25 > 0:05:26involved in politics.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Is that something that you think writers should stay out
0:05:29 > 0:05:31of, current affairs?
0:05:31 > 0:05:35No, I think there can be a voice, I think in my own writing I've
0:05:35 > 0:05:37sometimes done something that could count as a sort
0:05:37 > 0:05:43of political intervention.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Because I think sometimes works of fiction, poetry,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47or different kind of nonfiction journalism can shed light
0:05:47 > 0:05:50on a public issue, a political issue, where journalists,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and newspapers, and the media generally have presented
0:05:52 > 0:05:54it in a certain way, along comes a writer
0:05:54 > 0:05:57with a different kind of take, a different sort of insight.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01So, I've always had this argument with WH Auden,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05who famously said poetry makes nothing happen.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07I think in a very subtle way, poetry, like anything else,
0:06:07 > 0:06:08can make things happen.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12And you have had experience of this as well, when you wrote your book
0:06:12 > 0:06:18about the James Bulger trial, "As If".
0:06:18 > 0:06:21And I know in that book you said he felt that his killers shouldn't
0:06:21 > 0:06:24have been tried as adults, and he received quite a lot of abuse
0:06:25 > 0:06:26for that view, as a result.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Did that make you more cautious about getting involved in speaking
0:06:29 > 0:06:32out on topics of the day?
0:06:32 > 0:06:34I don't think so.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36I mean, I recently reiterated my belief that ten-year-old boys should
0:06:37 > 0:06:42not be tried in an adult court.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Which is, you know, whatever horrible crime
0:06:44 > 0:06:47that was committed by the two boys, and I'm not denying that,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49I watched that court case, I was in that court,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51and I just felt the whole process of little boys
0:06:51 > 0:06:53being tried in court was wrong.
0:06:53 > 0:07:00I continue to say that.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05I don't think I'm very popular for saying that,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08and my son said to me, don't go on Twitter, dad.
0:07:08 > 0:07:15You don't want to read what they're saying about you on Twitter.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18But, you know, writers have to be prepared to stick their neck out
0:07:18 > 0:07:20occasionally for something they believe in.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23And I do believe strongly that it age of criminal responsibility
0:07:23 > 0:07:24in this country is too low.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30It's much lower than the rest of the world, really.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Since 2003, you've been Professor of Creative and Life Writing
0:07:32 > 0:07:33at Goldsmiths University.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36And again, in the book, Robert Pope articulates the view
0:07:36 > 0:07:37that creative writing cannot be taught.
0:07:37 > 0:07:38Which is interesting, given your position.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44What do you think?
0:07:44 > 0:07:45I think it can.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46Do you?
0:07:46 > 0:07:48Well, put it this way, I think skills can be learned,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50undoubtedly skills can be learned.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Writers can be helped to develop, they can learn certain techniques.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57Yes, in the end, perhaps talent is innate, talent is crucial too.
0:07:57 > 0:08:03But I totally disagree with Robert Pope on that one.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05I've seen how students have come along, been helped,
0:08:05 > 0:08:06gone on to be published and so on.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09They've acquired skills that, without going on a creative
0:08:09 > 0:08:13writing course, they might never have acquired.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15You're probably still best known for your memoir,
0:08:15 > 0:08:16"When Did You Last See Your Father?"
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Do you mind the fact that it's a book that you wrote back in 1993
0:08:20 > 0:08:26that people still most associate you with?
0:08:26 > 0:08:29It would be nice if I had a big success with something now.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35But, you know, it's inevitable and I'm very touched, and moved,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38when people still come up to me and say thank you for writing
0:08:38 > 0:08:41that book, it helped me grieve over my father,
0:08:41 > 0:08:42or whatever they say.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44It does bring us back, I suppose, finally, to literary legacies,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46which is where we began.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Do you ever wonder how you will be remembered?
0:08:49 > 0:08:53I try not to think about it too much, because it feels as if,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56if you're worrying about that too much at my age, you're kind
0:08:56 > 0:08:59of writing off whatever time is left to you.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02So, I haven't appointed a literary executor.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06I've no idea what will happen after I go, and what will be left behind.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09And I try not to think about it too much.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Blake Morrison, really good to talk to you.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12I've enjoyed it.
0:09:12 > 0:09:13Thank you.
0:09:13 > 0:09:23Thank you.