Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country by Edward Parnell is a beautifully strange and important book. That someone had not previously wrote of a pilgrimage to the wandering grounds of some of Britain’s most significant authors of the supernatural (least not to my knowledge) seems unusual – it would seem a logical step that […]
Ghostland: Review and Interview with Edward Parnell — Folk Horror Revival & Urban Wyrd Review
Also A Critique of Douglas Murray`s The “Madness” of Crowds with examples.
Political commentary is based upon reductive concepts and crass stereotypes. This kind of writing is also an inhumane enterprise in contrast to literature. Literature is a mode of expression which allows us to gain an insight into the lives of people who are described so crudely by writers like Douglas Murray.
In contrast Marge Piercy`s visionary 1976 novel “Woman On The Edge Of Time” details the torrid life of Connie, who is a middle-aged Hispanic woman living in Spanish Harlem. She is committed to the State Hospital after a violent altercation. It soon becomes clear that this isn`t the first time she has been sent to the “bughouse” or psychiatric hospital. However she is constantly aware that she and her fellow patients are just numbers rather than human beings.
Connie`s florid delusions fill the pages of the book. However they contain something truthful and hopeful. She imagines a better world free from the social constraints which underpin people due to race, class, sexual orientation and gender identity. It is a world dramatically different to the life that she leads on the “outside”. The reality of Connie`s life could not be starker. She is poor and vulnerable. She has experienced abuse and as a consequence of her chaotic life has a daughter in care. In her imaginary world there is no judgement cast upon her.
Piercy was ahead of her time in portraying a character and setting which speaks to us in a more pertinent way today. We are more conscious of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and economic status. Commentators like Douglas Murray have little time or interest for what is disparagingly called “Identity Politics”. However I would like to rename it “Humanity Politics” to give it a more positive connotation. Every human being has an “identity”, without our identity we are simply ghosts, but despite our disparate identities we still have a shared humanity.
Literature has always allowed us to delve into the inner lives of others. It helps to generate a genuine sense of empathy. The novels of Charles Dickens highlighted the social problems of Victorian London. The books revealed the plight of orphans and the destitute of that city. Most of us still remember the characters like Oliver Twist and Tiny Tim. However very few of us recall the dominant political voices of the 19th century and the dry tomes that emerged out of that era, like “Principles of Political Economy” by Thomas Malthus.
Douglas Murray is strangely indifferent to oppression in all of its forms. He is also strikingly un-empathetic and crucially does not seem to care that even the title of his latest book is egregiously offensive. No-one really uses the word “madness” anymore, not even in a figurative sense. This is a more enlightened age where we show our compassion towards those who have mental health problems. Like Malthusian philosophies I doubt whether his work will be read as enthusiastically as Roxane Gay for example.
Roxane Gay is a writer who has spoken out against those who wield the term “identity politics” like a weapon. She believes that it represents a stance which is deeply un-empathetic. Her latest book of short stories includes vivid characters like a woman made entirely of glass. This character represents the fragility and vulnerability of women. However Murray is simply dismissive of gender politics in general, and only writes to be deliberately provocative. His career will likely dry up just as soon as another attention seeker develops a more obnoxious outrage machine bigger than his.
Douglas Murray, like other “contrarians” and “provocateurs” have very limited talents. Fiction writers have a much more important cultural and political role within our society and need to be read and listened to, and Murray and his ilk only deserve to be ignored.
The 1970s were remembered as the “golden age” for television. It was a decade regarded as a golden time for drama especially and more pertinently for drama over Christmas. This was a time when there was a tradition for retelling ghost stories over the seasonal period.
The stories of M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu were especially popular. Charles Dickens was renowned for ghostly drama. Adaptations of “Oliver Twist” and “Great Expectations” were perennial favourites, but this was a kind of entertainment which also provoked fundamental questions about our moral conduct. “A Christmas Carol” is ostensibly a kind of ghost story but beyond the page it is something quite different. When it is translated upon the screen it brings a new meaning as it comes to life as a morality play about the evils of greed and the benevolence of charity.
Another tradition of 1970s and 1980s seasonal television was the dramatisation of established children`s fiction. In 1978 the Richard Adams novel “Watership Down” was made into a film. That same year a film was made from Charles Kingsley`s novel “The Water Babies” . When they made their debut on television they helped to provoke curiosity into the welfare of animals and the plight of poor Victorian children respectively.
In December 1986 the BBC adapted the novels of Lucy M Boston. “The Children of Green Knowe” were shown over two weeks and I remembered watching these magical stories and how enthralled I felt. The “Greene Knowe” stories were inspired by Boston`s home Hemingford Grey, an old Manor House situated in Cambridgeshire. She drew upon its history to create the stories, and used her imagination to invent the characters. The apotheosis of the drama arrives when the young protagonist Tolly witnesses a vision of St. Christopher in the Manor House Lake. I can remember that this was one of the greatest scenes from the BBC`s children`s drama department, at least for that year.
It is significant to note that Boston came from a Methodist family and this imbued her fiction. There is a strong numinous quality to her writing. When these stories were translated to the small screen the spiritual and moral element emanated from them. Boston`s fiction, along with the other classic dramas from the season are tales which I will always remember and cherish.
The 1970s felt like a very “ill” decade. Those of us who were children at the time were well aware of the impact of commonplace maladies, and we all share fond memories of gazing woozily at BBC Schools programmes while attempting to shake off the unpleasant effects of mumps, measles or chickenpox. Or, indeed, incorporating unspecified abdabs into our childhood games… it was an era when simple playground pursuits like ‘Tag’ were rebranded as ‘Bugs’, or even ‘Fleas’, the sole object being to contaminate as many of our closest friends as possible with the lethal, imaginary infection of our choosing.
Hattie Cooke, The Sleepers and Spun Out of Control — The Haunted Generation
The left, the current British Labour Party and their associated apologists in the media are suffering from a malaise which is eating away at our confidence as a nation and as a people. It is like a psychological affliction because it is so irrational. I am talking, of course about a condition called Anglophobia. This is combined with another irrational form of hatred and prejudice namely Anti-Semitism. A cultural change has occurred and the British Left now appears to despise the very people it is supposed to represent- the English working classes who mostly profess a Christian faith. As a consequence they are natural allies with Britain`s Jewish community as they also share a common culture and a shared literary tradition with The Bible.
This appalling situation is to blame for my shifting political allegiances and it is also why I struggle to get any sleep. I take these attacks upon my history and heritage extremely personally. I want to put a few things straight especially now as Election day is looming and Brexit is on everyone`s mind.
The Guardian newspaper offends me greatly. Last Saturday it published an article by Pankaj Mishra which was subtitled “A Nation`s Day of Reckoning”. This is an insulting implication that a “nation” needs to redress its supposed “wrongs”. Quite how ordinary English people are supposed to pay for mistakes committed by people that they have never met and who also lived hundreds of years before they were born isn`t actually addressed.
The article continues in a similar vein as it asserts that “for decades English national identity has struggled to adapt to loss of Empire and industrial decline”. This is a false assertion. National identity remains the same regardless of politics. My identity is the same! If I truly “struggled” then that would mean that my lived experience is completely removed from the experience of people of other national identities or somehow English identity is not an identity at all. Then I would have to conclude that I am either a ghost or a non entity. That very suggestion is beyond offensive.
Mishra writes from a narrow perspective without any historical context himself. He focuses upon India during the British Empire, but fails to mention the fact that the British were just another Empire in a succession of Empires. There were many colonial powers ruling India throughout its entire history. The Maurya Empire conquered India during the 4th century BCE and exploited the wootz steel that emerged in the area. Then for the following thousand years India was ruled by various dynasties including the Gupta Empire. There were multiple imperial powers ruling over India and this continued into the modern period. Most notably the Mughal Empire conquered most of India during the 1700s. The British arrived a century or so later but they were not the only civilisation to conquer and rule over India as the history proves.
Mishra then ventures into our literary history and invokes George Orwell. However he fails to acknowledge that Orwell`s oeuvre is quintessentially English. “Animal Farm” is much more than a useful political allegory. The book is part of the same English literary tradition as Chaucer and his contemporaries, as it is a bestiary. Unfortunately Mishra then makes a crude association between Orwell and Enoch Powell rather than the more appropriate allusion to Geoffrey Chaucer. This crude and reductive view of English culture prevents a more truthful perspective to emerge. Our literature has a deep numinous quality but Mishra`s reading is rather selective. Along with Orwell he mentions Rudyard Kipling, J.G. Ballard and Evelyn Waugh but either deliberately or carelessly omits Charles Dickens, J.R.R Tolkein and surprisingly William Shakespeare!
It is obvious that this entire article is both dishonest and insulting. He falls into the trap of stereotyping an entire people. This is something that racists and right wingers do, but English identity isn`t a race and it has always been politically neutral. Englishness is a culture shared by people of all races as it is actually a language and a history with deep roots within Christianity. Religious leaders like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop John Sentamu and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali all profess the same heritage and culture even though none of these revered gentlemen are white.
We should be proud to say we are English. Pride is not the same as superiority. The only superior people left in our country are the left wing middle-class intelligentsia who believe that they are above us. They are not and they cannot win. Don`t vote Labour this Thursday.
In the late 7th Century an illiterate cow herder called Caedmon was said to have received divine inspiration. That morning, like every morning was spent tending livestock in the grounds of Whitby Abbey. After his day of work he then attended a feast. His guests asked him to sing a song from memory but he replied that he could not remember any songs.
However later on that same night he fell asleep and had a dream where a man appeared before him to implore him “sing to me the beginning of all things”. He woke up from the dream and remembered a hymn which began “now shall we praise the maker of the Heavenly Kingdom”. When he returned to sing the entire hymn word spread to the Abbess of Whitby who was so impressed by this miracle she persuaded him to take holy orders.
Caedmon`s Hymn is the oldest poem in the English vernacular. His song of creation could only have been inspired by the area which surrounded him, a vast Kingdom called Bernicia. Its jurisdiction began in what is now South-East Scotland and extended into Yorkshire.
Picture is “The Road Across The Wolds” by David Hockney, 1997.
Yorkshire is often referred to as “God`s Own County” due to the unique landscape and its size as the largest county in England. However there is also a legend attributed to the area. When Jesus Christ was a small boy He was reportedly brought to this county by His great Uncle Joseph of Arimathea and it became a place blessed by His presence.
However Whitby Abbey itself has an entirely different legend ascribed to it. It is reputably the edifice which inspired Bram Stoker`s masterpiece “Dracula”. There are other places further north in the Bernician Kingdom which have been eulogised by modern writers.
Rock luminaries like Sting have composed paeans to modern day Northumbria. His recent musical “The Last Ship” was a tribute to the proud shipbuilding communities which have now gone. His most evocative album was “If On A Winter`s Night” which was released in 2009. This is especially resonant in this Advent season. He reimagines the Yuletide rites of Northern England. The most memorable is “Soul Cake”, a song about a winter practice where children go from door to door to pray and sing, and to gather ingredients for a special cake. This cake is baked to remember all of the souls who have passed away. It is a beautiful rendition of a traditional song and it instils within me a warm, nostalgic feeling.
I used to live in the North and I will always regard it as a magical and inspirational place. I owe a lot to the people and the places I left behind. The powerful feelings I once had have never dimmed.
All hail Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence… the square-eyed Liverpudlian duo who, staggered that nobody had yet written a book about the welter of disturbing TV shows, films and – ahem – ice lollies that traumatised our collective 1970s childhoods, set out to fill the gap. The resulting doorstep-sized tome, Scarred For Life, has become a sales sensation, and a follow-up volume, detailing the Cold War-infused minutiae of their 1980s adolescence, is due in 2020.
Scarred For Life, Kev Oyston and Memories of 1970s TV — The Haunted Generation
In this series of articles I hope to create as complete a list as possible of folk horror-relevant programmes produced for British television, hopefully including documentaries and others that are not strictly folk horror but which are still relevant. There will doubtless be some missing, so if you have any updates, additions, corrections etc. please […]
British Folk Horror TV of the ’50s — Folk Horror Revival & Urban Wyrd Review
“And Cain said to Abel his brother `let us go out to the field’ and when they were in the field Cain rose against his Abel his brother and killed him. And the Lord said to Cain `where is Abel your brother?’ And he said `I do not know: am I my brother’s keeper?’ And He said `what have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil. And so cursed shall you be by the soil that gaped with its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it will no longer give you strength. A restless wanderer shall you be on the earth.” Genesis Chapter 4 verses 8-12.
“Rumble Fish” is a profound story about family, brotherhood and the ties that bind a community together. It is a deeply moral fable. The author of the book, S.E. Hinton almost invented the teen outsider within fiction. Her first novel was written at the tender age of 17 and was called appropriately enough “The Outsiders”. The main protagonist is “Pony Boy” a young miscreant, but widely misunderstood by the rest of his society.
Hinton presents this young delinquent sympathetically, even when he burns down the community centre as a consequence of his heavy smoking habit. We learn that he is so fragile that he relies upon his cigarettes to mask his insecurity.
In “Rumble Fish” all of the young characters are avid smokers and drinkers as they use their deadly habits to counter their boredom and alienation. It is ostensibly a story of two brothers, but there is an inner narrative which centres upon the dynamic of their relationship. This is the most compelling part of the story and it is reminiscent of the oldest story of brotherhood ever written- Cain and Abel in the Bible.
Cain and Abel were rivals for God`s affection. Abel`s violent death meant that Cain was condemned into exile and forced to wander the Earth. In “Rumble Fish” the two brothers are called Rusty James, and rather enigmatically “The Motorcycle Boy”. He is known by this moniker because of his fondness for motorcycles. He is the perpetual wanderer in the story, and his star struck brother is the narrator. Both boys are loosely associated with a teenage gang and this immediately raises the suspicion of the local cops. In Rusty James` eyes his brother is his saviour when he nearly comes to grief with a knife wielding gangster, he is also his hero.
It is revealed that he can only see things in black and white and this is a running metaphor both in the book and the film. I was just 16 when I first saw the film, recorded from late night television. I was so moved by it I watched it over and over again. The most moving scene for me was when the Motorcycle Boy released all of the animals from the local Pet Shop. It symbolised societal confinement and the way dreamers are condemned by convention. It spoke to my inner dreamer and my identification with this film was so strong that I eventually wore out the ribbon on my video cassette.
The Motorcycle Boy`s free life upon the road ends in a hail of bullets issued by the heavy handed cops, but his legend lived on. He was immortalised in graffiti and in the florid dream of his brother, who on the night of his killing watches his brother ride back to the West Coast followed by the birds that were emancipated from their cages.
Sometimes art can challenge viewers enough to change them. Sometimes art just makes the narrow-minded angry.
A Town Split By a Play About the 1980s AIDS Epidemic — Longreads
I loved “Angels In America”. It was a brilliant evocation of the AIDS crisis during the Reagan era.
