LITERATURE
Well, I guess that's a posh way of saying that I enjoy reading and writing. I read a lot, especially when I have some spare time (holidays, for instance), and when I find a book I enjoy I often read it cover-to-cover without a break, sometimes staying up most of the night. That's becoming less common with time, but it does still happen when something really gets me hooked. I enjoy writing, too, when I'm in the right mood.I haven't attempted to list my favourite books of all time, because it would just be an impossible task. So much depends on my mood, and what I'm particularly looking for at that time. The same is true, I suppose, of films and even music, but not to the same extent. I read some books because they're light entertainment; undemanding background noise to the rest of my life. Other books make me think, or challenge me in some way. And of course, it does all depend to a certain extent on how well they're written, and whether or not the style appeals to me. If it doesn't, however great the rave reviews from others I know whose opinions I trust, I won't get very far and will probably give up.
I tend to enjoy crime fiction, where I can pit my wits against the author and try to pick the clues and work out what's going on before he/she lets me in on the secret. I prefer it when there's some decent characterisation, so that I can get interested in the people involved and care about what happens to them, but if I'm in a relaxed mood I can do without it.
Good books tend to draw you in and make you care, even if you aren't predisposed towards being interested. Interestingly, though, some of my favourite books don't make me care particularly about the fate of characters, but about the thoughts being offered by the author. If I had to choose one favourite book - one that has made a profound impression on me, rather than one to take to a desert island - it would unquestionably the The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. It's not something to read over and over again, but perhaps to read and digest, and then put away for a few years before coming back to. For the desert island I would probably choose something by Susan Howatch; maybe The Wheel of Fortune is my favourite, but all her first five major novels are books I can read and re-read. I do find her more recent work interesting and very readable, but it doesn't capture me in quite the same way as her earlier novels do. I do also read Iain Banks, although I find that some of his novels don't interest me as much as others (I still think that The Wasp Factory is the best I've read). I should also mention Iris Murdoch; I have never read prose which is as dense while at the same time remaining accessible.
Obviously one of the difficult things with literature which has stood the test of time is that it's difficult for us, at the end of the millenium, to appreciate the culture and circumstances in which it was written, and to understand the sense in which a work may have been ground-breaking, or even shocking. Even so, I would recommend a lot of the classics of the twentieth century, and indeed some of the nineteenth (Silas Marner, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Middlemarch, Passage to India, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Colour Purple), but I can't stand Dickens with his dreary, verbose commentary on nothing in particular. I'm quite willing to believe that it's beautfully observed, but he's one of those writers where I manage a page or two and then give up in despair.
I read German literature from time to time, although less now as my grasp of the language fades. Grass is well worth reading, if you can find it in decent translation…
I love the theatre, but I don't go as often as I would ideally like. Most of my favourite plays are Shakespeare, I have to admit; I don't suppose that Hamlet is a very original choice as the best play ever written, but it would have to be mine. One of the best productions I've been to recently was As You Like It at the Globe in London, which was very entertaining (I was a groundling, and it seemed to suit me…). The only disadvantage to staging such a realistic version of the play, and allowing the audience to see it much as it would have been seen by an audience in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is that you do have to stand for a very long time; no doubt they were used to it, but our modern legs aren't made of such stern stuff and a number of people were getting quite fidgety in the last act. The seats may be basic, but they might be a good idea next time.
As a German student, I fell in love with the plays of Schiller, particularly Wallenstein, which I still consider the finest play I am familiar with outside Shakespeare. I am only sorry that I have never seen it performed, and to be honest I wouldn't want to see it in translation, because I wouldn't be sure that the power of the language would be retained.
I don't really do poetry, to be honest. I used to write some poems in my early twenties, and some of them still read OK, but they weren't anything special. The problem I usually have with poetry is that it's very personal; I couldn't write something which didn't have a particular meaning for me. I know other people might find all sorts of interesting ideas in it which lead them to think deeply about their own feelings, but I find the structure too restrictive. I suppose the fact that I can't write it, and don't understand how to write it, probably spoils my reading of it; it's too stylised for me, although interestingly I often think song lyrics are excellent, and that's a form of poetry, I suppose.
It probably says something about my understanding of poetry that the ones I most enjoy tend to be nonsense verse like limericks, although I do think that If is excellent (while not agreeing with all of its sentiments).
Obviously, from the fact that there's a heading, I do write things for myself, and enjoy doing so very much. I have written some pretty moderate poems, although I don't any more (except for the occasional nonsense verse to make someone laugh). When I'm in the right mood, I like writing letters - long, proper letters, not just the postcard type but real letters with thoughts and observations. I have written various philosophical papers to present while a postgraduate, as well as my thesis. I also like writing other general pieces commenting on current issues, which you'll know if you've looked at the News and Views pages. I have also written one complete novel, which is called The Masks, which will eventually be sent round publishers just in case someone's interested, and obviously that isn't accessible through the website. I'm also working on three other novels. I tend to focus on one work at a time, but my inspiration moves from one to another and obviously I write most keenly when I feel inspired. I could go on and on about how I write, or why I write, but it would be dull; if you want to know more, you'll have to mail me and ask me a more explicit question!
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Written by Jon Renyard
Last updated 11 August 1999