'‘Britain Is No Home to Me’: Five Artists Respond to ‘Brexit’' diff viewer (0/1)

This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on July 05, 2016 21:24 (UTC). It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/arts/international/britain-is-no-home-to-me-five-artists-respond-to-brexit.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Previous version 1 Next version

Previous version 1 Next version

Version 0	Version 1
‘Britain Is No Home to Me’: Five Artists Respond to ‘Brexit’	‘Britain Is No Home to Me’: Five Artists Respond to ‘Brexit’
2016-07-05 21:25:10 UTC	2016-07-05 22:00:07 UTC (35 minutes later)
Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has led to intense soul-searching in that country’s cultural establishment. The New York Times asked five writers and theater professionals for their thoughts. In a sometimes heated email exchange last week, they debated whether it is too soon for artists to make art about “Brexit,” whether fiction has failed to capture social changes in Britain during the past 20 years, and what kind of art this historic moment might inspire. These are excerpts from the conversation.	Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has led to intense soul-searching in that country’s cultural establishment. The New York Times asked five writers and theater professionals for their thoughts. In a sometimes heated email exchange last week, they debated whether it is too soon for artists to make art about “Brexit,” whether fiction has failed to capture social changes in Britain during the past 20 years, and what kind of art this historic moment might inspire. These are excerpts from the conversation.
Does the Brexit vote change the relationship you have with Britain?	Does the Brexit vote change the relationship you have with Britain?
MIKE BARTLETT A playwright and screenwriter whose play, “King Charles III,” was nominated for a Tony Award.	MIKE BARTLETT A playwright and screenwriter whose play, “King Charles III,” was nominated for a Tony Award.
The vote genuinely surprised me. Much like it did when Boris Johnson was elected as London mayor. It was a moment when a result I assumed was impossible, that I couldn’t really conceive of, became a reality. As an artist I try to imagine I have some sense of where the collective consciousness of the country is — that I have an idea, however vague, of what the general mood is. Both these results disproved that. They showed me how deluded I was to believe that. I didn’t know at all.	The vote genuinely surprised me. Much like it did when Boris Johnson was elected as London mayor. It was a moment when a result I assumed was impossible, that I couldn’t really conceive of, became a reality. As an artist I try to imagine I have some sense of where the collective consciousness of the country is — that I have an idea, however vague, of what the general mood is. Both these results disproved that. They showed me how deluded I was to believe that. I didn’t know at all.
ELIF SHAFAK A Turkish author of nine novels, including “The Bastard of Istanbul” and “The Forty Rules of Love.”	ELIF SHAFAK A Turkish author of nine novels, including “The Bastard of Istanbul” and “The Forty Rules of Love.”
I moved to London from Istanbul years ago. London, with its cosmopolitan energy, urban memory, cultural openness, literary traditions, gender equality and freedom of expression, was everything I could not find in Istanbul. I travel quite a bit across Britain and Europe and I had been observing the discontent with E.U. and Brussels, as well as the dissatisfaction with the process of globalization. Many people today seem to think that sameness will bring safety. It’s heartbreaking to see how easily cosmopolitanism can be abandoned.	I moved to London from Istanbul years ago. London, with its cosmopolitan energy, urban memory, cultural openness, literary traditions, gender equality and freedom of expression, was everything I could not find in Istanbul. I travel quite a bit across Britain and Europe and I had been observing the discontent with E.U. and Brussels, as well as the dissatisfaction with the process of globalization. Many people today seem to think that sameness will bring safety. It’s heartbreaking to see how easily cosmopolitanism can be abandoned.
ZIA HAIDER RAHMAN The author of the novel “In the Light of What We Know.”	ZIA HAIDER RAHMAN The author of the novel “In the Light of What We Know.”
I’ve always felt an outsider in Britain and spent most of my working life in places all over the world. The Brexit vote only consolidates what I have long known — that Britain is no home to me.	I’ve always felt an outsider in Britain and spent most of my working life in places all over the world. The Brexit vote only consolidates what I have long known — that Britain is no home to me.
If Brexit does change the relationship of writers to Britain, British literature might benefit. I’m reminded of that fabulous, albeit historically fundamentally garbled, ad-lib of Orson Welles in [the film] “The Third Man,” comparing the Borgias and Medicis and warring states of Renaissance Italy, with all its magnificent works of art, on the one hand, with, on the other, the 500 years of peaceful Switzerland and its contribution: the cuckoo clock.	If Brexit does change the relationship of writers to Britain, British literature might benefit. I’m reminded of that fabulous, albeit historically fundamentally garbled, ad-lib of Orson Welles in [the film] “The Third Man,” comparing the Borgias and Medicis and warring states of Renaissance Italy, with all its magnificent works of art, on the one hand, with, on the other, the 500 years of peaceful Switzerland and its contribution: the cuckoo clock.
British literature has been stagnant for at least two decades; British writers far too close to the establishment and more concerned with getting an invite onto a radio show or to the right dinner party than providing a critique of society. Orwell and Graham Greene would wince. And most of the decent literature comes into English through translation, aside from the postcolonial literature manifestly written for the white elites of London and curated by a buffer class of native informants designated by that same elite. The Brexit vote might well challenge the ruling complacency.	British literature has been stagnant for at least two decades; British writers far too close to the establishment and more concerned with getting an invite onto a radio show or to the right dinner party than providing a critique of society. Orwell and Graham Greene would wince. And most of the decent literature comes into English through translation, aside from the postcolonial literature manifestly written for the white elites of London and curated by a buffer class of native informants designated by that same elite. The Brexit vote might well challenge the ruling complacency.
Does art seem like a suitable and/or sufficient tool to address this historic moment?	Does art seem like a suitable and/or sufficient tool to address this historic moment?
PHILIP PULLMAN A novelist whose works include “His Dark Materials,” a fantasy trilogy.	PHILIP PULLMAN A novelist whose works include “His Dark Materials,” a fantasy trilogy.
There are some kinds of art that can deal with this — with the whole steaming complexity of it — but I do think it needs time. Immediate reactions are important, but you can’t write a novel about it before this evening, for instance. Maybe not for a decade.	There are some kinds of art that can deal with this — with the whole steaming complexity of it — but I do think it needs time. Immediate reactions are important, but you can’t write a novel about it before this evening, for instance. Maybe not for a decade.
BARTLETT As Philip has intimated about how you would make art about what’s happening right now, it’s not the moment. It needs time. The news cycle is moving so quickly and playing out as a fascinating, twisting narrative.	BARTLETT As Philip has intimated about how you would make art about what’s happening right now, it’s not the moment. It needs time. The news cycle is moving so quickly and playing out as a fascinating, twisting narrative.
RAHMAN I’m unconvinced by the waiting argument. Greats such as William Faulkner, Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer, F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t wait. Joseph Conrad and George Orwell didn’t wait. Forgive me, but this waiting stance one often hears bespeaks a poverty of imagination and engagement.	RAHMAN I’m unconvinced by the waiting argument. Greats such as William Faulkner, Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer, F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t wait. Joseph Conrad and George Orwell didn’t wait. Forgive me, but this waiting stance one often hears bespeaks a poverty of imagination and engagement.
For people for whom the Brexit result is a shock, time will indeed have to pass in order to digest the result and reflect, before art can be made. But for those who regard it as a natural outcome of what came before, no such passage of time will be necessary. Tennis players know where the incoming ball will land long before it hits the ground.	For people for whom the Brexit result is a shock, time will indeed have to pass in order to digest the result and reflect, before art can be made. But for those who regard it as a natural outcome of what came before, no such passage of time will be necessary. Tennis players know where the incoming ball will land long before it hits the ground.
PULLMAN You seem to be demanding something different from what I (for example) can provide. I just don’t agree with your premise that anyone who isn’t naïve about Brexit can write as if they’re playing tennis. I could see Brexit coming a mile off, and parts of my mind are now busy with all kinds of response to it. To demand an instant response is to narrow far too many possibilities.	PULLMAN You seem to be demanding something different from what I (for example) can provide. I just don’t agree with your premise that anyone who isn’t naïve about Brexit can write as if they’re playing tennis. I could see Brexit coming a mile off, and parts of my mind are now busy with all kinds of response to it. To demand an instant response is to narrow far too many possibilities.
BARTLETT In terms of fiction, I think those writers did wait — if only the amount of time it took to write a novel. And many of them, such as Orwell, wrote essays in response to these kinds of events instead, precisely so they could respond directly and quickly.	BARTLETT In terms of fiction, I think those writers did wait — if only the amount of time it took to write a novel. And many of them, such as Orwell, wrote essays in response to these kinds of events instead, precisely so they could respond directly and quickly.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m absolutely not saying that art shouldn’t or can’t engage with current affairs. But — and I can only speak for myself as an artist — I will need to consider the situation, learn and listen for a while before reflecting it or attempting to change it through my work. That might just be a few days or it could be years.	Don’t get me wrong. I’m absolutely not saying that art shouldn’t or can’t engage with current affairs. But — and I can only speak for myself as an artist — I will need to consider the situation, learn and listen for a while before reflecting it or attempting to change it through my work. That might just be a few days or it could be years.
SHAFAK Coming from Turkey, this question deeply resonates with me. Sure, often literature is analysis after the event, as Doris Lessing wisely pointed out. But my feeling is, more and more, the opposite is also true. A necessity almost. I respect different literary approaches to the same question, but, personally, I feel the need to respond “during the event.”	SHAFAK Coming from Turkey, this question deeply resonates with me. Sure, often literature is analysis after the event, as Doris Lessing wisely pointed out. But my feeling is, more and more, the opposite is also true. A necessity almost. I respect different literary approaches to the same question, but, personally, I feel the need to respond “during the event.”
MARIANNE ELLIOTT A theater director who has won two Tony Awards for best director.	MARIANNE ELLIOTT A theater director who has won two Tony Awards for best director.
It is different for a director. A director doesn’t have to wait to respond to the social milieu in the same way a writer does. A writer has to be able to achieve a certain objectivity in order to craft his or her material. So I can see why some of the writers in this group want to wait. But, personally, I’m seeing Brexit in everything I’m currently planning to direct, in every play I read that I might direct. I’m interested in teasing out the contemporary issues in what I’m working on, however old the piece might be, whenever I’m working on it. That might mean that the piece might not directly have lines that specifically tackle Brexit. But I can somehow show the contemporary resonance in the way it is delivered to the audience.	It is different for a director. A director doesn’t have to wait to respond to the social milieu in the same way a writer does. A writer has to be able to achieve a certain objectivity in order to craft his or her material. So I can see why some of the writers in this group want to wait. But, personally, I’m seeing Brexit in everything I’m currently planning to direct, in every play I read that I might direct. I’m interested in teasing out the contemporary issues in what I’m working on, however old the piece might be, whenever I’m working on it. That might mean that the piece might not directly have lines that specifically tackle Brexit. But I can somehow show the contemporary resonance in the way it is delivered to the audience.
I feel that art, somehow, has to be at the heart of what’s happening now. We need to relay stories. Ever more needed in moments when there is an atmosphere of extreme right politics gaining ground and people are looking for scapegoats.	I feel that art, somehow, has to be at the heart of what’s happening now. We need to relay stories. Ever more needed in moments when there is an atmosphere of extreme right politics gaining ground and people are looking for scapegoats.
Are any of you imagining creative responses to what’s happened?	Are any of you imagining creative responses to what’s happened?
SHAFAK Xenophobia did not happen overnight. It was there all along, dormant. Whenever there is a crisis, perceived or real, and whenever there is a historical momentum that unleashes it, even kind neighbors can turn into xenophobes. If I were writing a novel I would have liked to have a protagonist that goes through a similar radical transformation. How does it happen? How do kind, well-meaning people turn into xenophobes?	SHAFAK Xenophobia did not happen overnight. It was there all along, dormant. Whenever there is a crisis, perceived or real, and whenever there is a historical momentum that unleashes it, even kind neighbors can turn into xenophobes. If I were writing a novel I would have liked to have a protagonist that goes through a similar radical transformation. How does it happen? How do kind, well-meaning people turn into xenophobes?
PULLMAN Well, the form I am most at home in is the novel. I can imagine a novel that looks at a single family whose members disagree about Brexit, and at their friends and work colleagues, and shows how many different causes (from Churchill’s early rejection of a closer union with Europe in the ’50s, to the persistent misuse of ‘‘Great” in Great Britain, to the Chicago school of economics and Thatcher’s peculiar personality, to the structural flaws in the Labor Party, to the hollowing out of communities following privatization of industry, to the peculiar personalities of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, to the fundamental unsuitability of the British “unwritten constitution” to modern life, and so on) have played on the different personalities in the family, and led to the result of the referendum and its effects.	PULLMAN Well, the form I am most at home in is the novel. I can imagine a novel that looks at a single family whose members disagree about Brexit, and at their friends and work colleagues, and shows how many different causes (from Churchill’s early rejection of a closer union with Europe in the ’50s, to the persistent misuse of ‘‘Great” in Great Britain, to the Chicago school of economics and Thatcher’s peculiar personality, to the structural flaws in the Labor Party, to the hollowing out of communities following privatization of industry, to the peculiar personalities of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, to the fundamental unsuitability of the British “unwritten constitution” to modern life, and so on) have played on the different personalities in the family, and led to the result of the referendum and its effects.
To demand a response of that kind but with the speed of a tennis player hitting a ball is, to say the least, optimistic.	To demand a response of that kind but with the speed of a tennis player hitting a ball is, to say the least, optimistic.
RAHMAN Philip, respectfully. No. That is not the premise of my point. What I am saying is that there are scarcely any British writers who are able to provide rich artistic responses at all, immediately or later, to the major events of the last 20 years. And, to be clear, not responses to Brexit, but a response, say, to what they have been witnessing over the last 17 years, as fear of Islamist terrorism edged out all talk of white racism and let it flourish.	RAHMAN Philip, respectfully. No. That is not the premise of my point. What I am saying is that there are scarcely any British writers who are able to provide rich artistic responses at all, immediately or later, to the major events of the last 20 years. And, to be clear, not responses to Brexit, but a response, say, to what they have been witnessing over the last 17 years, as fear of Islamist terrorism edged out all talk of white racism and let it flourish.
Anyone else have a response to Mr. Rahman’s assertion that British literature has been stagnant for at least two decades?	Anyone else have a response to Mr. Rahman’s assertion that British literature has been stagnant for at least two decades?
PULLMAN As a general point about the imaginative thinness of modern British literature, that’s very fair. I suspect there might be more engagement with the way things are in books written for younger readers, which have traditionally been ignored by distinguished grown-up critics. As I say, I suspect that, but I can’t demonstrate it.	PULLMAN As a general point about the imaginative thinness of modern British literature, that’s very fair. I suspect there might be more engagement with the way things are in books written for younger readers, which have traditionally been ignored by distinguished grown-up critics. As I say, I suspect that, but I can’t demonstrate it.
SHAFAK With all due respect, I think such a generalization is rather unfair to the breadth and depth of modern British literature. There is a wide range of styles and subjects, ever changing, open-ended.	SHAFAK With all due respect, I think such a generalization is rather unfair to the breadth and depth of modern British literature. There is a wide range of styles and subjects, ever changing, open-ended.
Have any of you witnessed or experienced any anecdotal moments of human drama recently that you think capture this historic turning point?	Have any of you witnessed or experienced any anecdotal moments of human drama recently that you think capture this historic turning point?
RAHMAN I happen to be in Britain for July to help my best friend, who’s having a baby. She is now worried about the kind of Britain her child will be born into and grow up in. I found myself trying to reassure her with words that left me feeling deeply uncomfortable: “It won’t be so bad; the baby will be white.” I rather wish I could take those words back. I have the impression that there are many whites in Britain now who can’t recognize their country.	RAHMAN I happen to be in Britain for July to help my best friend, who’s having a baby. She is now worried about the kind of Britain her child will be born into and grow up in. I found myself trying to reassure her with words that left me feeling deeply uncomfortable: “It won’t be so bad; the baby will be white.” I rather wish I could take those words back. I have the impression that there are many whites in Britain now who can’t recognize their country.
This week, my cousin and her 3-year-old faced a verbal racial assault in London outside the child’s playschool by a man in a van as he was driving away from them. The BBC has reported that incidents of hate crime have gone up by 500 percent since the vote. The victims of such abuse will largely be those who can least fight back.	This week, my cousin and her 3-year-old faced a verbal racial assault in London outside the child’s playschool by a man in a van as he was driving away from them. The BBC has reported that incidents of hate crime have gone up by 500 percent since the vote. The victims of such abuse will largely be those who can least fight back.
What about more practical effects of Brexit on art?	What about more practical effects of Brexit on art?
ELLIOTT This means more disaster for public funding for the arts. We have been badly cut already and George Osborne [chancellor of the Exchequer] has warned that more cuts and austerity measures are now inevitably on the way. Unfortunately, the arts are usually seen as dispensable, despite the huge contribution they make to our culture and to our economy. And to our consciousness and our civilization.	ELLIOTT This means more disaster for public funding for the arts. We have been badly cut already and George Osborne [chancellor of the Exchequer] has warned that more cuts and austerity measures are now inevitably on the way. Unfortunately, the arts are usually seen as dispensable, despite the huge contribution they make to our culture and to our economy. And to our consciousness and our civilization.
The public funding we are used to expecting in this country can allow true creativity. If you are working in a publicly subsidized building then you have a responsibility to deliver truly interesting, risky, innovative, even provocative work. Work that speaks to your audience in many resonant ways. The priority is less about the financial rewards. The less subsidy we have, the more the “producers” take over and the “bottom line” becomes the raison d’être. That’s quite an unappealing landscape for artists.	The public funding we are used to expecting in this country can allow true creativity. If you are working in a publicly subsidized building then you have a responsibility to deliver truly interesting, risky, innovative, even provocative work. Work that speaks to your audience in many resonant ways. The priority is less about the financial rewards. The less subsidy we have, the more the “producers” take over and the “bottom line” becomes the raison d’être. That’s quite an unappealing landscape for artists.
Some artists have said they felt shame at the vote. What were your responses when you learned the result?	Some artists have said they felt shame at the vote. What were your responses when you learned the result?