Well, here I am, writing the first main entry in our "blog." What ghastly words: "blog" or "web-log" - they sound like an electronic poo, a log you do on the net. Nice. Bet that comment's been made a million times before, though: anything you say on the net has been said a million times before. The internet is a salutary and continual reminder that there is no such thing as originality. Anything you can possibly think of - and an infinite number of dark, grotesque, horrendous, bizarre, fascinating, sublime things you can't - have already been done a million million times on the net. So no point trying to be original in this blog.
Not really sure what the point of this blog is full-stop. I've never been much of a diarist. I'm with Philip Larkin, who once said (mournfully, no doubt): "I don't like going about pretending to be myself." I suppose that's odd for someone who's recently written a memoir, but maybe it's not so odd: I like looking back on happenings and turning them into stories, narratives or pub anecdotes, but don't feel I have much insight about my day-to-day life. When you're living day to day, there's not much to say. It's just a while later that you can start pretending it all fits into a pattern or story.
So what is the story going to be in this blog? No idea - will only know that when we've finished it, years on. I don't even know what the start of the story should, except that perhaps I should introduce myself to my "diary." I am Jonathan Taylor, and this blog is about me and my wife, Maria Taylor. I suggested to start with that I should write about her and her day, and she should write about mine. But then we decided that might prove a little divisive - my interpretation of her day might not be the same as her version, and vice versa. Such things are rows made on. So I'll just introduce myself.
I am the author of Take Me Home: Parkinson's, My Father, Myself, which was published by Granta this year: http://www.granta.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=3398
I am a lecturer in Creative Writing here: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/faculties/humanities/english/jonathan_taylor.jsp
And I am co-director here:
.... Funny term, though, isn't it, "I am." We use it all the time without thinking about it. "I am" all of these things and none of them - especially this evening. Now all I am is tired. Technology has that effect on me. Good night.
Jonathan
No comments:
Post a Comment