tv Meet the Author BBC News November 30, 2017 9:45pm-10:01pm GMT
9:45 pm
says there was a were on board. it says there was a big operation in the south atlantic that they failed to locate the submarine and a spokesperson said there was no chance of finding anyone alive. the argentine navy giving up the search for its missing submarine. now its time for meet the author, withjim naughtie. fiona mozley‘s elmet is a story that you might describe as contemporary gothic, raw and dark and lyrical with a rich bit of melodrama, debut novel powerfully enough to take it to the man booker short list in the autumn, told by a m—year—old, it sets the here and now against a brutal and more elemental past and explores a complex and ambiguous flesh ship between three members of afamily flesh ship between three members of a family who are all in their own ways different —— ambiguous
9:46 pm
relationship. welcome. it's interesting that in trying to write about the contemporary world, trying to say something about the contemporary world, you were drawn toa contemporary world, you were drawn to a wild past, a man who lives on land that he doesn't own in a house that was built with his own hands. how did you come to feel that that was the best avenue to write about the here and now? i think contrast is always a good two when trying to talk about something very specific, andi talk about something very specific, and i did want to address the issues of today. i think those are brought into relief by considering the history of the place, kind of old
9:47 pm
ways of living, different ways of living, and i wanted to place those things together and see what happened. to suggest although we think we are more civilised than people were many years ago, that is not necessarily true? modes of reality change, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse andi better and sometimes for the worse and i wanted to examine that. i also wa nted and i wanted to examine that. i also wanted to suggest that the boundaries of landscape have not a lwa ys boundaries of landscape have not always been the same. borders change. they are mutable. by giving the novel a older feel, change. they are mutable. by giving the novel a olderfeel, i wanted change. they are mutable. by giving the novel a older feel, i wanted to suggest that not only things have been different in the past but they can be in the future. the question of ownership of land and property, it produces a very dramatic even melodramatic ending which we won't describe in detail, to spoil it for those who haven't read the book, but let's talk about the plot. it is told by daniel who is “i, and it is
9:48 pm
a story that revolves around his slightly older sister and their father. it is a very tight conception. the stage is not very crowded. i wanted to include these three characters and they are all serving a different purpose, by our very different in temperament and very different in temperament and very different in temperament and very different physically. i wanted to explore the relationship between temperament and body and they are all trying to look at each other and thing, how do you work, i can't understand it because i'm so very different from you. the father is a very heathcliff type of figure. slightly unfair, but you know what i mean, there is a strength and fearsome strength about him. the way he feels he can mould the world to his purpose physically. yes. he's a masculine archetype, exaggerated and
9:49 pm
deliberately exaggerated and there is much about this book which is deliberately excite you read it. —— deliberately excite you read it. —— deliberately exaggerated. he embodies everything which is positive and negative about masculine table top cathy, the daughter, she rolls her own cigarettes all the time. she does indeed. her issue is that she takes after her father in many respects but not physically, she can never match his strength. she is co nsta ntly match his strength. she is constantly being underestimated by those around her. daniel is stuck with telling the story which it does worry touchingly and lyrically. when you have described itjustifies the phrase which are used moment ago, that it phrase which are used moment ago, thatitis phrase which are used moment ago, that it is a gothic novel in many ways. it uses extremists, almost as if it is lit in bright colours and dark moustache extremes —— extremes. ido dark moustache extremes —— extremes. i do see this as a genre piece and i was influenced by the narrative arc
9:50 pm
of westerns, i was influenced by the setting of yorkshire, and because this plays with the genre there are moments which are familiar in their in their extremity and melodrama. there's a lot of touching the landscape involved in this. elmet is a place to this day, but it was the last celtic kingdom? that's right. in around the seventh and eighth century, it was the last kingdom that kept... in england, that is, that kept... in england, that is, that kept... in england, that is, that kept its celtic heritage, and that kept its celtic heritage, and that was a term which is problematic in many respects, but there is something separate and distinct about it. ted hughes has written about it. ted hughes has written about this. ted hughes came from that soil and he did write about this, do that influence you? yes and no. this, do that influence you? yes and i'io. “ this, do that influence you? yes and no. -- deed. i read his poems as i
9:51 pm
was drawing to the end of the project. but i think that they did influence it in some respects. the passion that he instils in the relationship between people and their surroundings, relationship between people and theirsurroundings, physical surroundings, is one of his great characteristics, and that is clearly what you are trying to get to here, there's a great deal of lyricism in there's a great deal of lyricism in the course of a story which is sometimes quite dark and spare and even brutal, and the plot, but you imbue this with a lyrical top. even brutal, and the plot, but you imbue this with a lyrical toplj even brutal, and the plot, but you imbue this with a lyrical top. i was aware there were so imbue this with a lyrical top. i was aware there were so much darkness in it, so much which was a pleasant and i really wanted to counter balance it with some lightness —— on present. i wanted the description of the place and the family relationships to have a warmth and in terms of the landscape is so much about physicality and i wanted it to bea
9:52 pm
about physicality and i wanted it to be a landscape that you could reach out and touch, something that appealed to all the human senses. without going into the details of the climax of the book, there is a sense with which there is a victory of sorts but nevertheless the book has a feeling of something that has been lost. there is a sense of loss. so much of the book is about a lost world, people trying to recover that lost world. you are still in your 20s. just about. so, this is a book that to some degree must be seen as one that speaks of your generation. do you think the sensibility you are bringing to this is one which is quite common? that there is a feeling as people of your age look forward , feeling as people of your age look forward, that it is inescapable that something has gone? forward, that it is inescapable that something has gone ?|j forward, that it is inescapable that something has gone? i think so. certainly in terms of forging a home and finding a place to live, that is
9:53 pm
one of the greatest challenges. that is at the centre of the story. it is a book set in yorkshire but i started writing it in london, so it has a double identity. first novel, you end up on the man booker short list, alongside the winning book and authors like paul auster, extraordinary. yes, it is. the enormity of it only hit me at the ceremony, because part of me had been trying to shut it down, and just take it one step at a time, but when i got to the ceremony and all those people around me, that is when it dawned on me, that my life had changed. to put it crudely, it must be encouraging, you want to write, you are doing a ph.d. part—time at the university of york. fundamentally you want to write fiction and that is not bad way to start. yes, it is a pretty good way
9:54 pm
to start, and one other thing is the short listing has done for me is allowed me to be more daring in the future. there is an issue with who gets to write, the sort of fiction that different people get to write and feel entitled to write and this short listing allows me to be brave in the future, i hope. fiona mozley, author of elmet, thank you very much. thank you. we tried to give you a bigger detail on the shorter term of whether and then we looked long—term and we try to pick out the trends —— we try macro. it is the wintry feel that will win out, a bright and crispy start for many central and western areas. but you get the sense that maybe there is something of a change just waiting in those northern and
9:55 pm
western wings by weight of relatively mild air and relatively compared to what we have seen, the early taste of winter for many, and many of the showers in the east were urged by a keen win but they will be watery rather than wintry on friday. signs of more rain on the west of scotland. down into the south—west of england. maybe temperatures a few degrees up on where we were in the middle part of the week. at the weekend, more cloud rotating, slumping its way into the british isles. no scraping your cars on saturday, and the temperatures, certainly in the west, a few degrees higher. no longer 3—4. certainly in the west, a few degrees higher. no longer3—4. it certainly in the west, a few degrees higher. no longer 3—4. it is 5—6, no heat way, but we are beginning to see a trend building. the trend will
9:56 pm
continue as the overall pattern remains the same, high pressure towards the west, and a weak weather front drifting down, so maybe some rain, are not promising everyone a dry weekend, but the trends i want to hammer home is that we are getting 7—8, possibly ii to hammer home is that we are getting 7—8, possibly 11 degrees, as the cold air which has dominated of late is moved to the near constant leaving behind the prospect of the second nation being very much dominated by the high—pressure —— in a continent. and there is no difference to the pattern as we get on into monday. i will take you even further ahead, into tuesday, on into monday. i will take you even furtherahead, into tuesday, i on into monday. i will take you even further ahead, into tuesday, i think the only change we are picking up at the only change we are picking up at the moment is that maybe the centre of gravity, the high is no longer blocking the west and it has slid its way further towards the south to become very much the dominant player will —— and maybe the change of
9:57 pm
position of the high is beginning to open a window of opportunity for something to develop and change across the northern half of the british isles. from midway, not so much looking for wild changes in the south, but with time, we mayjust push low—pressure through this corridor and occasionally that may just open up the door for something a bit cooler with the threat of snow showers especially on higher ground, to break out over the northern parts of the british isles. with some deal of the british isles. with some deal of uncertainty, next weekend could be as we establish a low pressure towards the eastern high—pressure, we might have something colder again, so mild in the south throughout, unsettled further north, and it could be as far ahead as next weekend that we see the return of something a good deal colder. goodbye. the special relationship under strain. theresa may criticises
9:58 pm
donald trump for sharing tweets from a british far right group. on a visit tojordan, the prime minister says she isn't afraid to call out the president when she believes he's made a mistake. i'm very clear that re—tweeting from britain first was the wrong thing to do. but the white house had brushed off any criticism, saying the president is only highlighting his concerns about islamist extremism. also tonight... net migration into the uk falls sharply — and it's mainly down to fewer people coming from the eu. one of the six british men wrongly jailed in india for four years tells of his joy at his new freedom. i'm on cloud nine. there's not a word in that english dictionary that can describe how i feel at this minute. could the deal to support the minority tory government be at risk over efforts to resolve the irish border post—brexit?
31 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
BBC News Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on