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when he uncovers unpublished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