Befriending Writing -- (Memoirs of a Private Man by Winston Graham)

I may have read more memoirs the first 40 days of 2018 than I have in my entire life! I started Memoirs of a Private Man fairly close to the first day of the new year, reading a few pages each night or while waiting to pick up grandchildren from school. The book is not boring; it's just that I own this book and the library books must be finished or I incur library fees (not that fees have ever kept me from holding onto a book a bit longer -- I consider it my way of supporting public libraries).

I'm discovering that memoirs are not written chronologically. Graham admits he has not: "This, I hope readers will have realized has not been intended as a chronological memoir." Nice to know on page 259, two pages from the end of the book! Yet, each memoir I've read this year has been this same way. I surmise two thoughts from Graham's statement and the reading of the other memoirs: 1) Perhaps there is a theme to each chapter (although I'm not sure what it is in some chapters, so it could be a memoir is just written in whichever way an author remembers while he or she is writing), and 2) chronological memoirs exist.

First on Graham's mind as he prefaces this book is that he has not committed any of the "fashionable sins". He mentions murder, burglary, among other "sins" that I had to look up in the dictionary. His friend thought maybe Graham had committed simony, and Graham had to ask what that was. I've started a few memoirs like that, generally of the Hollywood vein, and never finished them.

I find it difficult separating whether I actually liked the book or whether the draw of reading about the making of the Poldark series kept me reading. Yes, this is the author of that series.

What is not to like about this picture (snagged from radiotimes) of the newest Poldark series: both the actors and the Cornwall scenery! Just so you all know, I did read the books, every single one of the 12 book series. My reviews of each are on Goodreads although not here on this blog.

While the organization (or lack thereof) is not to my taste, Graham's writing style here in his memoir is as excellent as it is in his books (of which, surprise to me, there are many more, mostly modern). Here is one sentence that grabbed me in spite of Graham breaking one of the "rules" I told my former students: "There are people too whom I describe as psychological bedwetters, who are for ever making little puddles of trouble that they think they can't help" (250).

Graham also discusses one of his books The Green Flash (not a combination of the Flash and Green Arrow/Lantern). When it was published, it was not a big seller. Graham states that a director told him it was a "fine novel but he would not want to make it into a film because the hero was such a @#$%" (I know...I still can't bring myself to use the word after so many years of outlawing it in my own home.) Publishers assured Graham that the book would continue to make it in the world. By now, this book might be mild by some current standards.

I found the book to be lovely and an easy read. I don't know that I would give it 5 stars, usually a number I give to books I buy and I did buy this one, but it is a grudgingly 4 star book (ha, I still can't forgive Graham for not being chronological).

As for the title of this blog "Befriending Writing"? Much of this book is filled with friendship, with his wife, with the actors of the first Poldark series, with men at the Savile Club, with his books. Writing, because that is the other subject with which the book is filled. Graham definitely had optimal conditions for writing, conditions most of us do not have, but he made the most of those conditions and kept his integrity, his privacy (I had no idea Graham even existed until the second Poldark series), and his marriage. Not a bad life.

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I wasn't sure I had any comment to make to parents of young children, but I think I did glean this from the book. My male students used to complain about how female characters (and they believed in real life as well) were drawn to "bad boys." This might be the case in Graham's The Green Flash; however, in his own life, the good guy did well enough for himself and his family. His wife and children did well enough for themselves.

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Perhaps a good practice to go with Memoirs of a Private Man might be secret service. This is a practice where one does something good and doesn't tell anyone! I did this one time (yes, I know, obviously I could use some more practice) and for weeks I had to fight the inclination to tell someone. I was at the point where surely telling a stranger on the street would be okay. Now, I can't even remember what I did, but I think my soul grew a little more that day.