I read an article in The Independent the other day about Simon Armitage and his new project, Walking the Penine way. No problem, great idea. He will be doing readings in pubs on the way for free and then getting his living expenses for the tour only by what he collects in a hat after a reading. Great stuff. It'd be good to live up that way and see those readings. What amazed me though was the tone of the article. It seems to demonstrate something poets suspected was going on in the UK for a long time- I call it Northern Writer Syndrome.
We don't exactly have evidence to verify this, but writers in the North for a long time have suspected that there is a sort of Londonist attitude of some writers and newspapers. We've worried that people won't take writers from Newcastle, Barnsley or Berwick as seriously as they would a writer from the South. I've talked to poets who do a lot of gigs in London. They have faced disinterest when telling a London writer about good writers in the North. They may ask have you ever read so and so? The answer is no, but often there is an attitude that it can't be of interest to someone in London. There are two things happening here- Londonism and Northern Writer Syndrome. The Northern writer may feel a bit grumpy. He may have a belief that he's on the outside somehow (of course, he worries there are a lot of Lononists prejudiced against him). He is unaware that his Northern Writer Syndrome does nothing to coax Londonists beyond their tubed vision. The problem isn't going away anytime soon.
I thought these stereotypes may be a myth. Maybe the Northern Writer needn't be so paranoid. Maybe there are less Londonists out there than we think, or its a by-gone attitude. Runmour, hearsay, stereotype, maybe we fell foul of old wives tales. Is there such a greatNorth South divide as we think? Then I read the article in The Independent with Simon Armitage. It made me laugh out loud.
It begins 'He is a poet, yes. And he comes from the North. But woe betide the person who uses the phrase "northern poet" around Simon Armitage. "I'm a professional poet, not a professional Yorkshireman," he says.'
I don't blame Armitage for saying this. Writer first, always, why be labelled as an odd subdivision? And why is it important? Who to? Given the article starts with Armitage saying this we'd expect an article about his work, about his walk and his new project. We expect the professional Yorkshireman to be mentioned no more. But, no this doesn't happen. The article evokes exactly what Armitage doesn't want to dwell on. It says, '
But while he might be passing a hat around, one thing is for sure; it won't be a traditional Yorkshire flat cap.' It's the writer of the article that must dwell on his Yorkshire man stereotypes. He just can't stop himself. He seems oddly interested in what Armitage is wearing. He mentions 'his courdoroy jacket', 'his converse trainers', This is odd in an article about a poet not a WAG or B list celebrity. It isn't what we need to know about poets. It's is as if Simon Armitage if he a specimen the journalist has never encountered- a Northern poet. It's almost a fetish how this specimen must be looked at and described. he is even so rude as to mention Armitage having 'brown, bowl-cut, hair' moving in the wind. (How rude!) there's more physical description of Armitage than descriptions from his poems included in the article (and that's the meat, anyone who wants to hear about this project will be going to see Armitage to read to hear good poems.) It could be of course, that poetry still so on the outskirts of out culture that the appraoch a writer would use to an actor or model is still applied. We just don't know what else to focus on, but it seems the Yorkshireness of the poet is still important to the writer of the article (we assume because it must be of interest to the reader?)
Quote:
"I'm going to give readings in the evening and then pass a hat around," the 47-year-old explains, in a Yorkshire accent. "But it's not about the money, I'll need bacon butties and a bed for the night."
Why do we need to know it's a Yorkshire accent? Didn't Armitage say he didn't want this focused upon? The line sounds like Armitage is impersonating someone, like himself. In a way he is, regardless of what he has said he is in this article as not just a professional poet but professional Yorkshireman. I began reading this article thinking, Simon Armitage seems a little grumpy. I was wondering how ahy he felt like there was something he was missing out on when he is after all such a successful poet. Now I know why he may feel like that, because regardless of Ted Hughes, his own success, or many good writers from the North Armitage seems to have Northern Writer Syndrome suspicions. He seems to know the article may dwell on this more than the work. He was right. Northern Writer Syndrome and the Londonists continue on strongly. It looks like we're along way from breaking down that literary wall.
Article mentionned in:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/simon-armitage
Simon Armitage tour route on his website
No comments:
Post a Comment