This was a scintillating hour with a most acclaimed historian who has tackled the subject of Stalin, not once but twice. The first being, Stalin, the Court of the Red Tsar, and the second title being Young Stalin. Both biographies have been highly acclaimed.
Recently, Montefiore has completed his first novel, Sashenka. The novel is set in the times of Stalin. But for Montefiore this novel gave him the opportunity of describing how people and families survived these times. He was particularly interested in knowing how children survived. The time of terror has been written about many times, its effect on people has not received the attention it deserved. For The author, the novel format offered the ideal format to tell the story without being dependent on the facts.
Montefiore outlined his journey with the Kremlin from approval (for his earlier book on Catherine the Great) to rejection, in access to archives being made very difficult. Some wonderfully funny anecdotes were shared, including the janitor who had assumed the title of the Professor at one archive, and fixed Simon in his glare with one question – Are you going to be fair to Comrade Stalin?
One of the most important conclusions Montefiore leaves us with concerns the calculability of those around Stalin. In fact, as we view the history of dictatorships throughout the world, the same calculability is present more often than not – Zimbabwe, Chile, the list goes on.
Full marks to Finlay Macdonald for his intelligent chairing of the session.
An hour with Hermione Lee: the Michael King Memorial Lecture
To date this ranks as one of my highlights of the entire Festival. Lee is an articulate, engaging and thoroughly entertaining speaker. When academics get it right they really do a superb job!
For the last 17 years Lee has spent considerable time in the company of two of literature’s most important writers – Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton. This period has produced two outstanding biographies. At the same time Lee has become of the most significant modern-day biographers. Her wonderful book, Body Parts: Essays on Life-Writing, supplements the biographies themselves in a most approachable manner.
Lee’s passionate overview of the writing of Edith Wharton painted a totally insightful and complete (as far as the biographer is able – Montefiore later exclaimed – we can never know anyone) picture of the formidable character of Edith Wharton. A thoroughly stimulating hour in the presence of a superb presentation and most engaging person.
An hour with J.M.Coetzee
As I walked out of the theatre I overheard the comment an exchange as follows – “he is such a weird person…. but he can write”. I suspect that Coetzee would have smiled wryly if he had heard such an exchange. The expectations were high; the theatre was nearly full for one of world literature’s most significant writers. The Independent recently reported “if you are interested in literature, ideas and the reach of art deep into the heart of humanity – you must read Diary of a Bad Year (his latest work). And yet… many were left dissatisfied. Why?
I suspect it has something to do with the expectations around writers and readers festivals. And those expectations certainly clash head on with Coetzee’s concern with how human life is embodied in his writing. I am sure Coetzee’s response to disappointment will be to refer the reader to his writing (as he did in this session by reading from three of his earlier novels). It is clear that some author’s feel deeply uncomfortable with the theatre of festivals. I have heard a writer at a previous festival refer to feeling as though he was in a cage at a circus. Surely, we can respect a different view but at the same time never forget it is the body of their work(s) that is the key not a one hour session.
I remember some years ago attending the Wellington Writers and Readers Festival to hear a life-long favourite, the exiled Somalian writer Narrudin Farah. I joined the book signing queue to offer my thanks for his work over the years and welcome him to New Zealand. After a very quick exchange, I turned to leave, very satisfied and honoured with the human contact. The person behind me in realising that I had not asked for a signature was heard to say to her friend, “what a weird fellow”!!
Coetzee outlined the censorship process in South Africa during the apartheid years. He personalised it in recounting, thanks to a contemporary find in archives, assessments of three of his earlier titles. He then read from each of those titles. He did not have to say anything more.
Sure I could feel he was not particularly engaging; humourless (not true!); cold and unapproachable. However, I left the theatre feeling deeply moved by a giant of world literature. Later that night I began re-reading Elizabeth Costello and dipped into Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship. I realised forcefully that we can rush to judge a book by its cover or an author by a one hour session at a festival and miss the significance of that person’s gift to humanity and the canon of literature.
Thank you Peter Wells and Stephanie Johnson, Creative Directors of the Festival.
A Few random thoughts at the end of Day Three
What does it say about our priorities when a news reader or an All Black can demand and receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for reading the news or playing rugby and at the same time a poet such as Tusiata Avia is on the DPB?
Anne Enright: the glimpse offered at a session on the short story was intoxicating! One of the great dilemmas at any festival is about choice between two concurrent sessions. Day Four opens with the choice between an hour with Anne Enright and a session with Thomas Kohnstamm and travel writing. I still have not made my choice!!
