Still reread The Matter if Wales.
Remember a quote of hers saying that the most surprising thing about being a woman was how close women’s friendships are.
1
Sorry Jan but although I admire your courage in doing what you did in 1972 in the photos you look just like a man in a wig and your wrist and the size of your fist reminds us that men and woman can be very different physically and nothing can be done about that...
But if your life has been happy I suppose it doesnt matter.
1
Years ago, I picked up a used copy of Jan Morris's "Coronation Everest," and I was instantly struck by the clarity and depth of her writing. Very much looking forward to reading this memoir.
1
I am only familiar with Morris' Trieste, or the Meaning of Nowhere, a lovely but flawed book that first introduced me to one of my most cherished cities, and now occasional site of research. I've read it several times, first with awe and admiration, later with increasing skepticism. She is a writer whose literary verve frequently outstrips her political judgment. In particular, it is an immense pity that she is has become an apologist for empire in general and the British Empire in particular. Her nostalgic reminiscences of Triestino culture and multiculturalism whitewash the myriad forms of violence to which both the British and Habsburg Empires were handmaidens. One only needs to read Pankaj Mishra's most recent essay in these very pages to acknowledge that rose-tinted glasses fatally distort and obscure the evils of the empire(s). That said, her words never fail to offer windows into small wonders, and I will read this eagerly, even if my gaze remains slightly askance.
I first read Jan after my last stint in jail, my longest stint of 90 days. Next stop, SanQuentin. The judge after sentencing me, said , Son, youre smart, go read books you love, discover more books, write your own...I did, I found Jans books in an old used bookstore in Arcata, California. My early 20s were spent reading her, Chatwin, Theroux, Robert Byron and Rebecca West. But, it was Jan that really made me want to see the world. With the god-awful state of literature today, tweets, Trump, his enemies, newspapers, she can write a fogey harrumphing book any day, anyday and it will be just fine with me.
12
Surely you could have included a passage or two in the author's own words? But no.
5
I have adored Jan Morris's travel writing over the years, particularly her wonderful book on Venice, and Trieste, but sadly this compendium, this 'diary' I found not up to par and boring to boot. These are reflections of an individual who has experienced a great deal through the years, seen more than most of us, and yet these remarks at the end of her life are disappointing - childish, fogeyish at times, and they saddened me more than anything. I think Alexander McCall Smith is being very kind here. I honestly do not think they should have been published.
3
I would be delighted for it to be confirmed that Jan shares my thoughts on England:
FOR ENGLAND 2016
You were so beautiful my own country
Your fields and fells the honest sun received
And under open skies the air was free
As all were equal and all bonds redeemed.
My place of birth you have grown sour and old
Uplifting hate to heart with evil lies
And now I find a touch that’s coarse and cold
With devilment in hard deceiving eyes.
No longer does the land I loved seem green:
Three scores and ten to ashen grey have turned
The sparkling summer’s days that once were seen
When truth glowed bright as lamps of justice burned.
For fear of which, I cannot leave unsaid
My dread thy beauty’s summer is forever dead.
5
The great thing about Jan Morris is that she has been able to live as journalist but also to create books that endure: this piece does not mention the trilogy about the Empire.
1
First encountered her,him back then doing my history degree at UNB. Amazing writer and storyteller. Simply amazing.
Jan Morris was one of the best writers during American/British prime time. May she enjoy her mussels and wine.
8
Back in 1969, when we first exchanged letters, James Morris gave me - then a callow geologist working in western Uganda - the inspiration, encouragement and confidence to become a full-time writer. In the years since Jan has become a confidant and friend to whom I will be eternally grateful. Not only is she a fine and wise writer; she is also generous beyond measure, and I treasure her for the profound, life-changing effect she has had upon my career. Kindness, as Jan has long believed, is everything.
35
Reading the memoirs "Pleasures of a Tangled Life" and "Conundrum" helped me understand, at least partly, the agony of being born in the wrong body for one's gender. Morris's writing is elegant and delightful in her histories and travel books as well. And she keeps giving to the world with her writing; I will certainly seek out this latest memoir.
It is chilling to know that if the policies and attitudes of the GOP are allowed to flourish, wisdom like Ms. Morris's could go unheard. That the ignorati are being given latitude to ruin the lives of those whose intelligence and humanity is discounted because they are not cis-gender is a sign of our descent into ignominy.
16
@Second generation
We need an honest conversation about gender dysphoria to come together. Most who are at home and at peace, generally, with our bodies, however imperfect or broken they may be, do not like to be called "cis-gender" nor any other term made up by and imposed on us by gender studies professors and SJWs.
We have no objection to people who have gender dysphoria doing something about their condition. We welcome them in society and are willing to use the proper and traditional pronoun for their new gender choice. But:
(1) we will not be intimidated into using made-up pronouns just to please SJWs;
(2) we object to Medicare, Medicaid or the Armed Services paying for elective surgery; however, based on the opinion of a treating physician that surgery is required to preserve the life of the patient or some other accepted diagnosis that is equally compelling, we accept that gender-change surgery should be treated like any other surgery that is not elective; and
(3) we will insist that, for compelling medical treatment reasons, birth certificates record the sex of a child at birth, per the fact that birth sex is part of DNA and recorded in each cell of each body; and
(4) for the very small minority who may at the time be unable to acknowledge one gender or the other; we will use indefinite pronouns, e.g. "you," "this person," to honor a person's condition and will defeat the arrogant attempt to force us to use plural pronouns when speaking to or of one person.
6