J. Barnes: Changing My Mind

[french frank]

It's a long way ahead, but could be of interest for (detached!) discussion here about current events:

The Essay from: Monday 5 December, Changing my mind: Julian Barnes on why and how he alters his views.
Monday: whether his point of view has changed over the years. Referring to historical characters and scenes from his own life, he first cites John Maynard Keynes and Francis Picabia. Then, what is the role of memory in all this?
Tuesday: how he uses words. What did words ever mean, and what do they mean now?
Wednesday: politics. He has voted for all parties - why? And what are his preferences now?
Thursday: exploring books and their authors.
Friday: time itself. Is time now different to him?

[Padraig]

Noted.

[vinteuil]

Many thanks for flagging this up. I am always interested in what Julian Barnes has to say, and in how he approaches his subjects.

[Padraig]

Begins tonight 22.45

[Beef Oven!]

Fascinating ideas on memory.

Not sure I agree with all of it - sometimes I change my mind to an inferior idea.

[Beef Oven!]

"Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory"

Franklin Pierce Adams

[ahinton]

Fascinating ideas on memory.

Not sure I agree with all of it - sometimes I change my mind to an inferior idea.

As Sorabji once said, "the great thing about changing one's mind is having one to change in the first place"...

[Lat-Literal]

It's a long way ahead, but could be of interest for (detached!) discussion here about current events:

The Essay from: Monday 5 December, Changing my mind: Julian Barnes on why and how he alters his views.
Monday: whether his point of view has changed over the years. Referring to historical characters and scenes from his own life, he first cites John Maynard Keynes and Francis Picabia. Then, what is the role of memory in all this?
Tuesday: how he uses words. What did words ever mean, and what do they mean now?
Wednesday: politics. He has voted for all parties - why? And what are his preferences now?
Thursday: exploring books and their authors.
Friday: time itself. Is time now different to him?

Monday - The idea that other people's perceptions of one's own personal experience are likely to be more accurate is politically dangerous. It diminishes the significance of versions of history in respect of current events - ie the authority of oral traditions - and it enables ideas about the past to be created by those who were not there, not least by media and people presently in power. The greatest accuracy about past events is likely to arise from a discussion between individuals who were a part of that experience. Nevertheless, to apply general points to self-recall is sinister. I happen to remember the names of about 200 people who were at my junior and senior schools - in fact, the majority of them were at my junior school so, therefore, before the age of 11 - and in most cases I can remember aspects of their character. At my age, my mother could remember about half a dozen of hers and my father none at all. As for Ray Gunter, I am not sure that he did say he was going back to "the valleys". He retired to the Isles of Scilly where he already had a home.

Tuesday - This was a replaying of the main dividing lines between Neville Gwynne and Terry Victor on the 5 Live Grammar Phone-In in the early hours of Monday mornings. Often I agree more with the arch-conservative Gwynne than the "anything goes" Victor but I do consider each to be inflexible in attitude. As always, there is a common sense middle way.

[Lat-Literal]

Wednesday - Oh dear. This was little more than a recollection of his political preferences since the 1960s/1970s. While uncannily similar to my own journey (apart from the rather odd fact that he never voted for the SDP), I was perplexed by his wildly broad definition of small "l" liberal and the manner in which in his voting he had often fallen into traps I had managed to avoid (eg 1997, 2010). There was also little in the way of reviewing earlier positions. I know what he means about Wilson and to a lesser extent Thatcher but to repeat what has been said umpteen times is glib. The past needs to be seen in the light of what has happened since. He is many years older than me but in this episode seemed younger.

As a footnote:

I do think that there is scope for some focus on politics in changing one's mind. It partially relates to the amount of information one has at any given time. That is unquestionably affected by one's own age and the amount of information in the public domain. This as we are frequently told is "the information age" for better and worse. There is too the impact of aging - the diminishing of beliefs about being able to influence outcomes. And that had a cultural backdrop given the constant promotion of such ideas in music and film from the 1960s to the 1980s. And then there are the points about how democracy was comparatively new to the masses in the 1960s and arguably we all lived then in a less complex world.

[Lat-Literal]

I feel too he underestimates the importance of social changes. These days Father Christmas only comes to our street on 8 December with the Rotary Club. One opens the door to a gentleman with a long white beard. He's in red clothes but asking for money rather than delivering presents. It is this sort of thing that leaves one thinking "I've changed my mind".

[Lat-Literal]

Thursday - Books or rather Forster who he views differently at 65 than he did at 25. This change seems to him to be about life experience. But what is conveyed is (a) the difference between early prejudice based on selected reading and a broader reading later and (b) how association can lead to openness towards an author - eg a description of breakfast that rings true, a connection to opera and earlier literature which can happen at any time. There are comments about patriotism and leftism - contradictory. John Bew's "Citizen Clem" (2016) might be helpful in its principal argument that everything Attlee pursued was dictated by a strong sense of patriotism. See too Kenneth Harris's "Attlee".

At a deeper level, there is the touching upon an art versus life discussion which just as it is a feature of literature also cropped up in an old episode of "Inspector Morse" I viewed recently. There the opera singer Morse revered was not all that Morse had hoped she would be whereas Lewis's humdrum family life seemed briefly to be respected more. There are no answers to such matters. It can be argued this or that way depending on selected facts but it may be true that in youth people either lean towards the arts or they do not.

[Lat-Literal]

Friday - Of the five, this had the most substance and it seemed twice as long. I felt he was about 70% right but won't comment in detail, seeing that it was clearer in this episode that it was principally personal reflection. My main observation is that time ceased to seem real to me in a very deep way as soon as the years started to begin with "20" rather than "19". I am not sure that this would have been the case had I experienced moving from the 1800s to the 1900s. It is mainly something about that figure "2" which I loathe.