Law and "Literature" Weekend in hindsight
So I think most of you probably remember when I got the book list for the Law and Literature weekend and was totally unimpressed. I did do the reading and perhaps as expected, didn't really enjoy the Lynda LaPlante novel, but the Jake Arnott (The Long Firm) really surprised me. You can find my review over on goodreads (here and here), but in summary it told the story of this gangster from 5 really diverse points of view and in doing so created a much more vibrant world than the traditional style of narrative. The two short stories (Kafka's The Penal Colony and Shiga Naoya's Han's Story) were also very enjoyable. I had never heard of the Japanese author and am planning on seeing what else of his work has been translated. I even managed to finish my short story for the workshop part of the weekend (happy to post it if anyone is interested - just keep in mind that it's my first work of fiction since I was 16). So, I arrived at Cumberland Lodge well prepared and hungry and not entirely knowing what to expect. We'd gotten word earlier in the afternoon that Ms. LaPlante had canceled at the last minute, which was a big relief to me, because, really, how do you tell an author you found their book dull and formulaic? Fortunately, I was spared that task and instead we got longer in our small groups. This turned out to be a really great thing, because it meant we spent more time actually exploring the writing process, both individually and as part of a group, getting and giving feedback on our various experimentations. We didn't spend much time discussing the works except from a stand point of how various techniques affect the reader.
We had some students from the creative writing MA there leading our small groups, and I think they were just as nervous about working with non-writers as we were with the idea of being asked to write creatively! The dynamic in the groups was really fantastic, and I was completely blown away by some of the really interesting things that came from my other colleagues.
I was also really impressed with Jake Arnott, who spoke on the Saturday night and then stayed on through Sunday. Aside from being incredibly well read, he spoke about his characters and his book very critically (in a positive way), and responded very insightfully and candidly to a lot of our questions and feedback on the novel. It also helped that he was really rather laid back and quite a good guy to sit around and have a beer with (which we did after). The truly daunting bit was then reading our work in front of him the next day! But he was really quite cool about it and gave lots of very helpful comments. Fortunately, I wasn't one of the ones picked to read - there were many, many better works than mine, some written in just 20 mins during our sessions!
Of course, it helped that Cumberland Lodge is set in some truly idyllic countryside - essentially smack dab in the middle of Windsor Great Park. With just enough hills to keep things interesting, but not so undulating that walking became a chore. Definitely some place to come back to, and I was already having daydreams about how one day I would love to rent it out for a reunion of sorts.
So, yes, an excellent weekend all around and I was so, so glad that I went.
We had some students from the creative writing MA there leading our small groups, and I think they were just as nervous about working with non-writers as we were with the idea of being asked to write creatively! The dynamic in the groups was really fantastic, and I was completely blown away by some of the really interesting things that came from my other colleagues.
I was also really impressed with Jake Arnott, who spoke on the Saturday night and then stayed on through Sunday. Aside from being incredibly well read, he spoke about his characters and his book very critically (in a positive way), and responded very insightfully and candidly to a lot of our questions and feedback on the novel. It also helped that he was really rather laid back and quite a good guy to sit around and have a beer with (which we did after). The truly daunting bit was then reading our work in front of him the next day! But he was really quite cool about it and gave lots of very helpful comments. Fortunately, I wasn't one of the ones picked to read - there were many, many better works than mine, some written in just 20 mins during our sessions!
Of course, it helped that Cumberland Lodge is set in some truly idyllic countryside - essentially smack dab in the middle of Windsor Great Park. With just enough hills to keep things interesting, but not so undulating that walking became a chore. Definitely some place to come back to, and I was already having daydreams about how one day I would love to rent it out for a reunion of sorts.
So, yes, an excellent weekend all around and I was so, so glad that I went.