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Linda Hutchinson
Linda Hutchinson
11 months ago

“This conversation is so boring I think I’m going to faint.”
Gosh, how many times I’ve wished that I had the guts to say that, instead of smiling politely and looking around for a discreet way out.

Linda Hutchinson
Linda Hutchinson
11 months ago

“This conversation is so boring I think I’m going to faint.”
Gosh, how many times I’ve wished that I had the guts to say that, instead of smiling politely and looking around for a discreet way out.

Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
11 months ago

Haven’t read anything by Martha Gellhorn but I will now. Alive today, she would be a UnHerder, for sure.
An imaginary column from her today about women who are not women would be interesting.

Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
11 months ago

Haven’t read anything by Martha Gellhorn but I will now. Alive today, she would be a UnHerder, for sure.
An imaginary column from her today about women who are not women would be interesting.

Russell Hamilton
Russell Hamilton
1 year ago

I loved Martha Gellhorn’s books and read just about everything she ever wrote. Sometimes an author has a phrase that you make part of your own life – I frequently have to tell myself (mostly in jest) “Buck up, Russell” which always straightens the spine. ‘Buck up’ being a Martha Gellhorn phrase/command.

Last edited 1 year ago by Russell Hamilton
Russell Hamilton
Russell Hamilton
1 year ago

I loved Martha Gellhorn’s books and read just about everything she ever wrote. Sometimes an author has a phrase that you make part of your own life – I frequently have to tell myself (mostly in jest) “Buck up, Russell” which always straightens the spine. ‘Buck up’ being a Martha Gellhorn phrase/command.

Last edited 1 year ago by Russell Hamilton
Chris Amies
Chris Amies
1 year ago

If a writer can’t write honestly about their reaction to places I don’t see the point of travel writing. It becomes a blurb for the tourist board (like much, ahem, British writing about France). If my reaction to Serbia and Montenegro is to prefer them to Spain, then that’s me. There isn’t a ‘wrong’ response.

Russell Hamilton
Russell Hamilton
11 months ago
Reply to  Chris Amies

There are brilliantly written responses, like Gellhorn’s – have you read Geoff Dyer’s travel writing?

Last edited 11 months ago by Russell Hamilton
Chris Amies
Chris Amies
11 months ago

No I haven’t, I’ll look him up. Thank you.

Chris Amies
Chris Amies
11 months ago

No I haven’t, I’ll look him up. Thank you.

Russell Hamilton
Russell Hamilton
11 months ago
Reply to  Chris Amies

There are brilliantly written responses, like Gellhorn’s – have you read Geoff Dyer’s travel writing?

Last edited 11 months ago by Russell Hamilton
Chris Amies
Chris Amies
1 year ago

If a writer can’t write honestly about their reaction to places I don’t see the point of travel writing. It becomes a blurb for the tourist board (like much, ahem, British writing about France). If my reaction to Serbia and Montenegro is to prefer them to Spain, then that’s me. There isn’t a ‘wrong’ response.

Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
11 months ago

There is good and bad in any location. As a holiday-maker, we have the luxury of seeking out the good, and ignoring the bad. We don’t care if, in our resort, the local council is useless at bin collections or potholes or if the Mayor is taking bribes. 
We opt for this selective blindness because we’re not rich, and we only have a miserable couple of weeks away from the soul-destroying freedom of our commuting/offices hamster wheel.
It’s like restaurant critics. What a miserable shower. I’m happy to sit down and get anything edible served up, in good company. but those insufferable guys, marinating in their own self-righteous trivialities, will be fulminating about the consistency of the amuse bouches and pronouncing their evening “ruined”.
So, for instance, as well as taking a photo of the inspiring view, one could also take a photo of the municipal dump. As well as recalling the kindly pensione owner, one could also recall the rude immigration official. Etc.
The reason most of us opt for wearing rose tinted specs is because we don’t have Aspergers. Gellhorn sounds like a charmless whinger you’d have crossed the street to avoid. I’m sure she’d have appreciated my candour lol.  

Last edited 11 months ago by Frank McCusker
Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
11 months ago
Reply to  Frank McCusker

Brilliant comment. There are two sides to everything, of course.
I liked the food critics “marinating in their own self righteous trivialities”.

Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
11 months ago
Reply to  Frank McCusker

Brilliant comment. There are two sides to everything, of course.
I liked the food critics “marinating in their own self righteous trivialities”.

Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
11 months ago

There is good and bad in any location. As a holiday-maker, we have the luxury of seeking out the good, and ignoring the bad. We don’t care if, in our resort, the local council is useless at bin collections or potholes or if the Mayor is taking bribes. 
We opt for this selective blindness because we’re not rich, and we only have a miserable couple of weeks away from the soul-destroying freedom of our commuting/offices hamster wheel.
It’s like restaurant critics. What a miserable shower. I’m happy to sit down and get anything edible served up, in good company. but those insufferable guys, marinating in their own self-righteous trivialities, will be fulminating about the consistency of the amuse bouches and pronouncing their evening “ruined”.
So, for instance, as well as taking a photo of the inspiring view, one could also take a photo of the municipal dump. As well as recalling the kindly pensione owner, one could also recall the rude immigration official. Etc.
The reason most of us opt for wearing rose tinted specs is because we don’t have Aspergers. Gellhorn sounds like a charmless whinger you’d have crossed the street to avoid. I’m sure she’d have appreciated my candour lol.  

Last edited 11 months ago by Frank McCusker
Rob N
Rob N
11 months ago

Thanks Tom Owolande. Enjoyed, interesting and inspires hope we may get some similarly honest writers in the future.
Just been reading my daughter’s school PSHE stuff about how we must respect all cultures etc. Why? Why pretend if we don’t? Why respect if they enjoy cutting up small children and dressing them in non-traditional clothes?

Rob N
Rob N
11 months ago

Thanks Tom Owolande. Enjoyed, interesting and inspires hope we may get some similarly honest writers in the future.
Just been reading my daughter’s school PSHE stuff about how we must respect all cultures etc. Why? Why pretend if we don’t? Why respect if they enjoy cutting up small children and dressing them in non-traditional clothes?

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
11 months ago

Loved this. I will seek out Gellhorn’s work.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
11 months ago

Loved this. I will seek out Gellhorn’s work.

Jonathan Nash
Jonathan Nash
11 months ago

and for completeness, that is Hemingway in the photo?

Cliff Foster
Cliff Foster
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonathan Nash

Cliff Foster

Cliff Foster
Cliff Foster
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonathan Nash

Cliff Foster

Jonathan Nash
Jonathan Nash
11 months ago

and for completeness, that is Hemingway in the photo?

Caroline Ayers
Caroline Ayers
11 months ago

Loved this article! More please! x

Caroline Ayers
Caroline Ayers
11 months ago

Loved this article! More please! x

Hibernian Caveman
Hibernian Caveman
11 months ago

I find it much more interesting to hear what Africans themselves say about Africa.

Regarding Jan Morris, I am not so convinced about her analytic capabilities. I first came across her in reading her remark about a “Chestertonian who thinks that, because Britannia needs no boulevards, France does not need them either.” A complete misunderstanding of Chesterton’s thought, which was that the English should be English and the French should be French. The remark is based on the amusing poem Americanisation:

http://www.gkc.org.uk/gkc/books/americanisation.html

Last edited 11 months ago by Hibernian Caveman
Hibernian Caveman
Hibernian Caveman
11 months ago

I find it much more interesting to hear what Africans themselves say about Africa.

Regarding Jan Morris, I am not so convinced about her analytic capabilities. I first came across her in reading her remark about a “Chestertonian who thinks that, because Britannia needs no boulevards, France does not need them either.” A complete misunderstanding of Chesterton’s thought, which was that the English should be English and the French should be French. The remark is based on the amusing poem Americanisation:

http://www.gkc.org.uk/gkc/books/americanisation.html

Last edited 11 months ago by Hibernian Caveman
Barry Hynes
Barry Hynes
11 months ago

Martha Gellhorn could and did out-Hemingway Hemingway

Barry Hynes
Barry Hynes
11 months ago

Martha Gellhorn could and did out-Hemingway Hemingway

Jambon Beurre
Jambon Beurre
11 months ago

.

Jambon Beurre
Jambon Beurre
11 months ago

Really interesting reading, as always, Tomiwa. Your thoughtful insights are a pleasure to read.

I am in the “write what you like” side of things because the ‘bad and ugly’ thoughts give us as much an insight into a person – and their life’s travails and nuances – as the good. Knowing Gelhorn’s views – positive and negative – on Africa and Hong Kong is interesting because it tells me something about her, her time, place, and context. Knowing where she has fixed views – again good or bad – and where she may contradict or transgress those, is the enlightening bit.

If writers can only write positively and self-consciously, with multiple caveats and contortions to avoid offence, then they are not writing truthfully.