I grew up in the Age of Assassination. JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr., RFK, Malcolm X. To stick up for a cause meant to stick your head above the crowd - be an easy target. It killed my desire to attack evil forces on a broad platform. I chose teaching and subversively worked to raise consciousness about things of great import.
When I started feeling bold again, the fatwa hit Salman Rushdie. The good news is: he outlived the Ayatollah.
And now Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated. Will this lunacy never end? The Age of Aquarius was not supposed to end up with the world still full of hatred and violence. I was hoping for a resurgence of the Age of Enlightenment.
Will this become known as the Age of Terrorism?
What role does this have in shaping my writing world and yours? We are, after all, people who target a wide audience (you should pardon the expression). We try to capture reality in a way that is both gripping and rewarding. We try to make sense out of the senselessness of violence, or at least put a muzzle on it.
Hmmm. Out of chaos comes a myriad of possibilities. Timing is everything. And writers have been known to rally the troops. Wasn't it some southern lady whom Lincoln credited with starting the Civil War? How will this latest assault on democracy be translated into our writings? Will it have no impact at all?
I don't believe that our internal life force vaporizes with death. Our verve is not eternally gone from the universe. At the very least, our voices linger in the minds of others. We continue to influence the world we leave behind, just not so directly. All of us carry bits and pieces of others - both good and not-so-good - in our souls. We are living legacies. As mystery writers we are tied into the emotional soul of our audience. Sorting out impossible puzzles is part of our daily fare.
Do the spirits of Benazir, the victims of 9-11, and all of the other assassinated heroes have an impact in fictional worlds? Do they whisper in the ears of writers, and inspire our fingers with words of encouragement and hope for a better tomorrow? Will our stories in some way keep their hopes alive?
How do you deal with the world of reality in your world of fiction? I'd like to know.
Write On!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Assassinations and Writing
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5 comments:
This post sets me thinking, Nan. I often wonder about those less-famous names forgotten by history and how they may matter to those of us who charge ourselves with remembering.
Hi Nan,
Interesting question.
I am something of a political news junkie- a remnant left over from my long career in government, and yet when I needed background as a frame of time reference in "Strike Zone" I used sports, as in, "Who doesn't remember Maris breaking Ruth's record?"
I could have used the Cuban Missile crisis or even JFK's assassination to get us into the same era but it never crossed my mind.
I appreciate Clare's point. There are a lot of people who's names we uttered at a tragic moment and have quite forgotten.
Perhaps one of them could be a focal point or historical reference in some future work.
Terrie
Terrie-
Funny you should suggest it. I've got a WIP with a forgotten man who was a hero of WWI for his innovations with explosives. In his day, he was nationally celebrated, and now, through the tricks of history, he is largely forgotten.
Clare,
Wonderful. that is exactly the kind of thing I meant. As usual you are ahead of the pack.
I often think that the problem with history is that there is just sooooo much of it.
Terrie
So far my characters have dealt only with personal trauma, and I've not used a global context. I'll have to think about that for the next one. Thanks for prodding us.
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