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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

How our minds work: Tyll & Human Traces

19/1/2020

10 Comments

 
Although these two historical novels are very different, both sparked some deep reflection about the workings of the human mind, and especially how our reasoning and problem-solving is influenced by beliefs and assumptions which, in turn, are shaped by the times and cultures in which we live. Both are set primarily in mainland Europe – the first in the seventeenth century and the second towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth – and feature – predominantly in the first and latterly in the second – countries ravaged by war.
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Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann translated by Ross Benjamin

Claus Eulenspiegel is a miller, more interested in defining the point at which a mass of grain becomes a heap than in turning it into flour. His young son, Tyll, also has unconventional obsessions, teaching himself to walk a tightrope when he should be doing his chores. When a pair of learned Jesuits arrives in the village – the sole survivor of the plot to blow up the English Parliament and a self-proclaimed expert in dracontology – Claus hopes for some lively conversation. Instead he’s soon facing trial for witchcraft.
 
Forced to flee the dubious protection of the village, Tyll goes on the road as a travelling entertainer criss-crossing a war-ravaged land. Battling hunger, cruelty, courts and cannonballs, he hones his craft. But while acclaimed for his singing, dancing, acting and juggling, he has a demonic streak. Perhaps he needs it to survive.
 
According to the blurb, Daniel Kehlmann has taken a legend from mediaeval German folklore and placed it on the stage of the Thirty Years’ War. Knowing nothing of the former and little more of the latter, I might have missed some of the references, especially as the story doesn’t progress in linear time. The British reader ignorant of European history – or rather this British reader – is helped to get her bearings from an English character, granddaughter of Mary Queen of Scots and grandniece of her namesake Queen Elizabeth I, who, in encouraging her husband to accept the Bohemian throne is instrumental in setting the scene for war.
 
But even without the unfortunate Liz, at whose much-diminished court Tyll is appointed to the formal role of Fool, I’d have been captivated by the storytelling. As with two recent reads about The Black Death, I particularly enjoyed and admired how the author renders the belief systems of a pre-scientific culture. While there are touches of humour in the spells, superstitions and self-fulfilling prophecies, it’s less schadenfreude than recognition that we also clutch at dubious patterns to defend against painful circumstances we can’t control.
 
First published in German in 2017, I received my advanced proof copy of the English translation, to be released on February 6th, from the publishers riverrun. For my thoughts on another novel from this author, see my post Fate, Fakery and Finance.


Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks

When Thomas and Jacques first meet (around 1880) in the dining room of a seaside boarding house in Brittany, they feel an instant connection. On the surface, they seem to have little in common apart from being twenty-year-old medical students: Thomas is from a middle-class family in Lincolnshire, wealthy enough to employ a couple of servants; Frenchman Jacques is from more modest stock, able to study only because of the patronage of the local curé, having been forced by his father to leave school at thirteen.
 
Thomas has come to doctoring by way of language and literature; Jacques has followed a scientific route, observing and recording and experimenting, and dissecting frogs. But he also wants to find a cure for his older brother Olivier who, after becoming more and more disturbed and disturbing in his teens, has been warehoused in an asylum run by nuns. While the quest is less personal for Thomas – although he later admits to having heard voices himself – he’s equally passionate about unravelling the mystery of the human mind. They share a dream to set up a clinic together when they qualify, to care for the mentally sick and to study what it is to be.
 
Inspired by the work of William Tuke, pioneer of moral treatment at the York Retreat, Thomas takes a job in a county asylum. Unfortunately, the place is so overcrowded, there isn’t the time or space for the kindly encouragement of ordinary activity Thomas hoped to be in a position to promote. While the medical superintendent is a gentle character, one of Thomas’ peers is not a doctor but the former administrator of a warehouse.
 
Nevertheless, Thomas works hard and learns his ‘craft’, while conscious that mental illness is an enigma and there’s very little a medical man can do to help. In a spirit of rebellion, he assists a misplaced patient, Daisy, over the wall for an evening in the pub[1]. Thomas isn’t alone in wanting to introduce a shred of normal entertainment: patients and staff come together to organise a Christmas dance[2].
 
Meanwhile, Jacques is learning about hysteria from Charcot’s lectures-cum-freak-shows at the Salpêtrière in Paris. Before too long, with the help of Thomas’s sister Sonia and a rich benefactor, the young men fulfil their dream and set up a clinic in the Austrian mountains to provide rest cures for the wealthy and a pleasant environment for the potentially incurable, including Jacques’ brother Olivier.
 
By this time, Jacques, initially the hard scientist, perceives the path to health through the unconscious; Thomas, initially the romantic, is inspired by Darwin and evidence that can be observed. Initially, their interests and orientations are complementary, until Thomas discovers that Jacques has dangerously misdiagnosed a patient’s organic illness as psychological. Resentment simmers until, many years later, Jacques walks out of a public lecture Thomas is giving, hurt that his friend has introduced his own position by ridiculing Jacques’.
 
Thomas’ thesis is even more controversial, partly inspired by seeing the fossilised footprints of our human ancestors in Tanzania[3]. He argues that hearing voices is a marker of consciousness, a throwback to a period in evolution after the acquisition of language (so that ‘man’ could carry around self-instructions in the form of words in our heads) but before the development of writing (voices be redundant when these instructions could be transcribed). Although Thomas articulates this wacky proposal very well[4], his audience is unconvinced.
 
Since neither man fulfils his initial promise, this is a novel about failure, as well as about the history of psychiatry, with nods to several key figures in the discipline’s development at the turn of the last century. Alongside his evidently meticulous research, Faulks displays touches of humour, such as when Thomas scoffs at the thinking behind the Oedipal situation, without mentioning Freud, and predicts that neologisms like ‘gene’ and ‘schizophrenia’ will never catch on.
 
With my own novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, set in the dying days of the longstay psychiatric hospital, I’m always interested to read about such places in earlier times. But I was recommended this for my series on fictional therapists. Although the period in which it is set predates therapy as we’d recognise it today, both protagonists employ elements contemporary practitioners would recognise: Thomas patiently attempting to connect with Olivier[5]; Jacques exploring beneath the surface of a less disturbed patient’s presenting symptoms. Unfortunately, as revealed in his case report, his overzealous espousal of unconscious causes leads to him imposing (rather than humbly offering) an interpretation and blinds him to simpler medical explanations[6].
 
At almost 800 pages, this is a big novel exploring big ideas. It’s also – less successfully in my opinion, or it might just be that I’m not enamoured of the genre – a family saga, with roots and branches across four generations. I hoped, when one of the doctor’s sons is packed off to Passchendaele in the First World War, the author might have some interesting insights into the madness of war. But, while shellshock[7] gets a mention, I expect it’s partly there because Sebastian Faulks likes writing about the war.
 
First published in 2005, I was surprised to find this was the first novel I have read by this prolific English author. I’ll certainly be open to reading his work again.


[1] Sixty or so years on, a psychiatrist is similarly cavalier about boundaries in The Key.

[2] See also The Ballroom by Anna Hope
 
[3] I loved this part of the novel, having been to the Olduvai Gorge myself.

[4] Faulks acknowledges The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes, which is often cited – and dismissed – in contemporary studies of voice hearing; Charles Fernyhough discusses it in The Voices Within.

[5] Albeit with less success than Dr Fried in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.

[6] Jonathan Coe does something similar with his arrogant Lacanian analyst in The House of Sleep.

[7] The treatment of which is addressed in Pat Barker’s Regeneration.

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When Charli set the prompt for this week’s flash fiction challenge, I thought I’d add my contribution retrospectively to my previous post reviewing a collection of short stories about protest. But, reflecting on how our fear of mental illness can lead to scapegoating of sufferers, I changed my mind. I like how this 99-word story about a protest is also a protest in itself.
Not mad, but angry

Although medication dulls my senses, that headline hurts. An assault on language. An assault on me.

When I first acquired the label, I feared it would swallow me whole. Would I still be a person? Or turn into an axe-wielding lunatic overnight?

I upload a screenshot to Facebook. An emoticon scowl. SCHIZOPHRENIC ATTACKS DIABETIC would be more balanced. UNEMPLOYED ACCOUNTANT ATTACKS SHOP ASSISTANT more polite.

The LIKES accumulate. The expressions of rage. We’re more than our diagnoses. More often the target than the perpetrator of abuse.

While social media can be mentally toxic, it’s a place of protest too.

As well as being the main theme of my forthcoming novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, mental health features in all three of my published books. You can find out more about that in this video with readings from Sugar and Snails, Underneath & Becoming Someone.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
10 Comments
D. Avery link
20/1/2020 10:06:28 pm

(Sshh. You're not supposed to talk about mental illness.)
Just kidding, this is an excellent flash for speaking for diagnosed people, the maligned and misunderstood. And then, though a diagnosable and treatable illness, health care doesn't always cover hospital stays or other needs that may arise. Crazy, right?

Reply
Anne Goodwin
21/1/2020 10:24:12 am

I think it's great that mental illness is talked about much more these days than in the past, but there's still a fear (which is understandable given how some people suffer terribly). I think it's inevitable in some ways that the system to manage it is also slightly crazy, especially in inpatient services – I did a little bit of research on that. There's also an American anthropological book-length study called Making It Crazy which impacted on my thinking, looking at how people have to be crazier than they are to get the help they need.

Here in the UK, it tends to be easier for people to access medical care, including hospital admission, than the social and psychological support that also aids recovery. Medication doesn't actually work for everyone, and the side effects can be disturbing – some people benefit more from help to manage their disturbing experiences than to silence them.

Reply
Charli Mills
20/1/2020 10:47:18 pm

Your review of Human Traces had me riveted, following how these two young men tested ideals against their subsequent experiences and how they each changed from their starting points. That in itself is a look at the human mind. Interesting, too, to place it in the chronology of mental health, coming before Mathilda's story. I could see the discussion of hearing voices disconcerting for those who are artistic fearing they might be a label instead. Your flash fiction is a perfectly modern look at how social media can be used in protest. <insert smiley emoticon>

Reply
Anne Goodwin
21/1/2020 10:31:08 am

Yes, perhaps I should have called this post How our minds change! Thanks for ploughing through my review which stretched and stretched!

Yeah, lots of people hear voices without being disturbed by them but a diagnosis can also be disturbing for those who welcome the help it might bring. If you're already unsure if you can trust your own mind and someone tells you your experiences fit a terrifying stereotype, you might well worry where that will take you.

As for my flash, I was surprised myself how it led to the "perfectly modern" social media! ;-)

Reply
Ellen Best link
22/1/2020 11:01:21 am

Diagnosis can be a relief because you now have a reason and can begin to understand. But I know being given a label is for some difficult. Will I 'be' schizophrenic , which is very different from 'I have. ' I enjoyed your readings I read you debut and passed it on to a friend whos daughter self harms and she said it helped her understand.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
22/1/2020 12:58:53 pm

Good point, Ellen. I think some diagnoses feel more like BE then HAVE, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be like that and we can all work towards making them HAVE.
Thanks for reading my novel and I’m so glad it was useful to your friend. It’s so difficult ‘watching’ someone deliberately hurt themselves but sometimes that physical pain is easier to bear. I still have vivid memories of writing that scene with a Stanley knife beside me and I was so into my character it wouldn’t have taken much for me to have drawn the blade across my arm.

Reply
Norah Colvin
23/1/2020 10:31:17 am

Neither of these books sound like a light read, Anne. I'm not sure how I'd go with either of them.
I did enjoy your flash though. I guess social media does give voice to many who would otherwise not have a voice. That may be a plus, but often it's also a negative. Labels aren't always good for the one being labelled. It's the same for children. A diagnosis is one thing. A label is very different.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
24/1/2020 01:59:17 pm

Good point, Norah, I think unfortunately diagnoses can be used as labels in a way that isn’t always helpful. Human Traces is a long book but I think you might find the philosophy interesting if you ever had the time.

Reply
Norah Colvin
5/2/2020 11:27:54 am

Thanks for the recommendation, Anne. I'll (try to) keep it in mind.

Anne Goodwin
16/2/2020 04:30:22 pm

I'm sure you've got lots of other reading options as well as other demands on your time




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