What with visitors and more visitors and usual summer holiday business there is not much reading or writing going on here. I am still deep in 'A Place of Greater Safety' when I can get to it (now at page 794 of 871...) and it is still brilliant. I'm now at the bit where everyone is pretty much killing everyone and it's all grim to the point of open-mouthed horror...and yet the writing still has a bewitching light touch now and then that keeps the reader fascinated/baffled/on alert– it's quite a work of art.
Both that and Hugh McMillan's recent poem (here, oh and here) remind me about writing about history (which I did here – one of the first poems I posted on't blog). I am one of those lost folk who 'dropped' history at 14 years of age (we had to choose that or German and languages were my main interest as a yoof so it was no contest) and I wonder how different it is for pupils of the no-doubt inspirational Prof Shug. What they will go on to do/learn/write/think? Will they think about history some time before their fortieth birthdays? And did I say 'inspirational'? Didn't I write something the other week about not using words like that? Really, a person could tie themselves in knots with this writing and thinking business...
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11 comments:
What is that ditty which claims if we don't learn from history's mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them?
I think sharing one's history is how we learn. And if we're smart, we'll learn from each other rather than stick to our own version of "the truth".
Oh, there's so much relying on that 'if we're smart...'! And of course history, and day-to-day experience, tell us that so often the opposite is the case (but not always...and there's the spark of hope, Hope).
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Back to Germany tomorrow to see the grandweans. I'll catch up when I get back.
I droppped history too but have been reading about it a lot since my early thirties.....
Happy travels, Colin. I never knew a Grandad (of mine). Bet you're a good one - lucky weans.
And CGP...yes, it gets to the point when you realise what you missed! I find straight history books hard to concentrate on sometimes (my own weakness partly) but works of fiction like the Mantel book I'm reading now seem to hold my attention. She really brings the era to life. Also we go to a lot of museums with our Girl now (she loves history and I'm hoping she will keep with it a bit longer than I did) so I'm catching up a bit that way too.
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I'd better pop my head in, as this appears to be the history drop out club! With history, it's all about the way you tell it...read a lot of history that wasn't called history!
I love history, but had to abandon it at the same age as you in order to take three sciences (why?!). Unfortunately I think what is true for us is also true for mankind: we don't learn from history, only from experience. So history moves us, but I'm not sure it changes us.
"Never again" always seems to happen somewhere else again.
I've already discovered the bit about tying in knots etc. Still - what would life be - etc etc
I wouldn't have had you down as a 'dropped history early' candidate, Titus...you must have kept it as a big sideline! I know some bits better than others (have read more history about the countries whose languages I studied for example) but overall I am pretty rubbish and must try harder.
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I never did Higher History at school because, frankly, what they studied bored me - all industrial revolution, Second World War and Suffragettes. Yawn.
So all my historical reading was stuff I wanted to know about and, therefore, stuff I read myself.
I think with me it was a case of "I'm interested in this subject - how did it get to be what it was?" And that meant I read about the history of maths, music, poetry, people, etc. I just like knowing where things come from.
As such, I can sort of understand that crazy idea some Scottish Governement education spokesman had about getting rid of it as a subject altogether (history would be taught within all the other subjects instead). But it's a crazy idea, and I hope it never happens.
I was a much more a 'NOW' person as a young one but I am getting over that. A bit.
As for teaching history...our Girl keeps saying she loves history and I am hoping she keeps that enthusiasm as schooldays tick by. We'll see...I'm hoping to learn along with her!
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