“I could be out visiting this
person or that, if I wanted to. They all make a fuss of me when I arrive, and
shoo the cat off the armchair for me to sit in: but they are not really
interested in anything I have to say. It is not that I want to say much; but I
like to sit in a corner and listen to people talking, and put in my spoke now
and then. Nowadays people don’t talk among themselves around the fire like they
used to. As soon as I’ve sat down and been made comfortable, it’s ‘Sh! It’s
Maigret!” or ‘It’s Eamon Andrews!’ and I have to sit in the half-dark and look
at the horrible T.V.; and you can’t put your spoke in against the T.V.
That is how
it is I come to be writing this book. I got to say what I think to somebody; if
only to myself. I don’t expect anybody will ever read what I have written; but
at the back of my mind I have the hope perhaps some day somebody will.
--- Ebenezer Le Page
From The Book of
Ebenezer Le Page
By G. B. Edwards
Years ago, a writing coach gave
this advice: Write as if you are writing a letter to your best friend. That
kind of writing – even if it’s public – draws the reader in close.
That was advice I couldn’t heed; my
own style, like me, tends to composure and comfortable distance. But it’s
advice I admire, a style I envy.
Letter writing is passé. Ebenezer
Le Page’s style is even more passé, even more intimate. G.B.
Edward’s nearly 400-page novel written
in Le Page’s elderly voice reads like one long winter’s fireside chat. Even LePage doesn't know how old he is -- but thinks he may be the oldest on his island. What's for sure, LePage is a codger -- if you draw up a chair and listen, you might hear something about history and the human heart.
His island is Guernsey, an island new to me – aside from cows and sweater-styles. One of
the Channel Islands, it’s a possession of the British Crown, but one that has been
invaded and claimed by various countries and churches throughout history. Le Page details Island life through a good part of 20th century – two World Wars (including the island’s occupation
by Germany) and the advent of television and tourism (both of which LePage clearly
doesn’t think much of). His ability to serve up the big picture (that macrocosmic view) by focusing tightly on the
island he’s never left and limited circles of family and acquaintances (that microcosm) gives the reader that
greatest of gifts: the presence of the extraordinary in the ordinary.
More on this book in blogs to come.
I love that quote. As I've aged, I've discovered that what I really like is to be in a room with other people going on about their business while I read. But no TV. I hate TV. I think this is because I grew up in a big family where I was reading all the time while life went on around me. I actually focus best this way over silence and aloneness.
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