Jan Morris has died

[kernelbogey]

The author, traveller and historian Jan Morris died this morning, 20 November.

An extraordinarily gifted writer and thinker.

[Belgrove]

There have been many great travel writers, and she was among the best of them, but that genre was not her only literary talent. Her journalism and history books are worth reading, and Last Letters from Hav (later added to) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It’s a fictional travel book of an imaginary place, an amalgam (I fancy) of Venice, Trieste, and Beirut on an fanciful Levantine coast. It’s a wonderful invention that I wish I could have visited. A very fine writer.

[Bella Kemp]

I loved 'Coast to Coast' when I was a teenager. A wonderful writer and a brave person for daring to become herself and transitioning so gracefully from James to Jan - a move wisely made in later life when she could be certain of her true identity.

[jayne lee wilson]

I loved 'Coast to Coast' when I was a teenager. A wonderful writer and a brave person for daring to become herself and transitioning so gracefully from James to Jan - a move wisely made in later life when she could be certain of her true identity.

A wise and wonderful writer on many levels and a great prose stylist, who learnt much from her own transitioning quest. "Conundrum" can seem dated now in its attitudes, but she always self-questioned and was a pioneer.

Sadly though, those trans agonies start in childhood and the hormonal effects of adolescence only make it worse - to endure and to live with. Often made worse by stereotypical pressures of family and conventional society.
So it isn't usually a good idea to wait until "later life" to do anything about this. It just stores up pain and suffering for the repressed individual and those who they may attempt to make a life with before transition...

I've long felt that "there are two sexes but many genders"....the sooner our supposedly modern society recognises that, the better off everyone will be. This can almost sound like science fiction, but what if it does? Modern sci-fi is often an epitome of generous spirits and broad minds.

[gradus]

Much acclaimed and justifiably so. I'm not well read in her output but the Trieste book was invaluable when visitng last year.

[BBMmk2]

Much acclaimed and justifiably so. I'm not well read in her output but the Trieste book was invaluable when visitng last year.

Indeed she was. She had quite a colourful life, too. I saw a BBC documentary on her, sometime back. Certainly will be missed. RIP

[Bella Kemp]

A wise and wonderful writer on many levels and a great prose stylist, who learnt much from her own transitioning quest. "Conundrum" can seem dated now in its attitudes, but she always self-questioned and was a pioneer.

Sadly though, those trans agonies start in childhood and the hormonal effects of adolescence only make it worse - to endure and to live with. Often made worse by stereotypical pressures of family and conventional society.
So it isn't usually a good idea to wait until "later life" to do anything about this. It just stores up pain and suffering for the repressed individual and those who they may attempt to make a life with before transition...

I've long felt that "there are two sexes but many genders"....the sooner our supposedly modern society recognises that, the better off everyone will be. This can almost sound like science fiction, but what if it does? Modern sci-fi is often an epitome of generous spirits and broad minds.

Yes Jayne, there may be truth in what you say. I have just read her obituary where she is quoted as saying that she knew, when she was three or four, that she had been born into the wrong body. And I like your philosophy of two sexes but many genders. One of the glories of these our lives is the complexity of the whole business of being human.

[kernelbogey]

I read her trilogy Pax Britanica many years ago and was utterly gripped by it. I read Venice for the first time this last summer, and was beguiled by her unerring ability to evoke place. She was able to weave together the living preence of the city with its history in a style which transcends most travel writing. She was a superb stylist of the English language.

Although Conundrum was rather shocking at the time, it was a pioneering work, and her transition has never particularly troubled me.

[vinteuil]

I read her trilogy Pax Britanica many years ago and was utterly gripped by it. I read Venice for the first time this last summer, and was beguiled by her unerring ability to evoke place. She was able to weave together the living presence of the city with its history in a style which transcends most travel writing. She was a superb stylist of the English language.
.

... yes, I agree : I too was totally gripped by the Pax Britannica trilogy, a masterly summary of the quasi-accidental accumulations of empire.

A great prose stylist. My father thought that the opening pages of Venice were among the best writing in the language : he was a bit miffed when years later I was able to show him how indebted it was to Ruskin - it's almost a caricature of the opening of the 'Torcello' section in Stones of Venice. But t's still great stuff.

.

[Lordgeous]

Her brother was long time Philharmonia principle flute Gareth Morris - apparently they stayed close after her transition but he could never refer to her as his sister.

[jayne lee wilson]

Her brother was long time Philharmonia principle flute Gareth Morris - apparently they stayed close after her transition but he could never refer to her as his sister.

I don't know the details of their relationship, but to refuse to recognise a trans person's self-identification can be very upsetting for them, especially if it extends to using wrong names or pronouns. Selfish, insensitive and retrogressive, effectively denying them their existence.