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How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

commonreader.co.uk

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Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#11

Post by klyrs »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #5

The article indicates that she likely ghostwrote a piece published under her husband's name during the period when many feel she "wasn't writing." I am reminded of the plot for the biopic Collette about a French writer whose initial success was from works published under her husband's name. In the biopic Out of Africa , Karen Blixen is portrayed as learning to tell stories orally to her nieces and later her guests. T…

> So I think women tend to lack mental models men seem to be inculcated with and this seems to be a separate issue from the much more readily recognized issue of gender discrimination.

This is discussed in queer spaces quite a bit. It is my belief that these mental models, as you call them, have a lot to do with how people are treated in their daily lives. Subtleties of language (down to body language) reveal the assumptions that people make about us. Try as we might, it seems impossible to avoid integrating such messaging into our self-image.

But this is not a space where I would go into detail on such topics.

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#12

Post by hi-v-rocknroll »

breck wrote: post #7
dhosek wrote: post #2

I was 45 when I had my first fiction published and I’ve published at least one story a year since then (although there have been years that it’s felt like I just barely met that goal). I think my MFA thesis advisor assigned Fitzgerald to me as a role model of a late-in-life writer (it’s amusing to think of my then-45-year-old self as “old” a decade later). But like Fitzgerald, it’s not like I wasn’t writing before. I…

> I think that the 45 years of life leading up to my first publication were a big part of what made me able to write something worth publishing. "Before you can write the book, you have to be the book."

The greatest concentration of interesting folks are the elderly on the fringes of society. If a writer ever wanted to find an ideal biography subject if they weren't the book, there is a demographic of sane, elderly, rough sleepers on each coast of America who have experienced more than the average person can possibly imagine.

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#13

Post by saagarjha »

dudul wrote: post #10
dhosek wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is part of the public discourse, you just may not have encountered it. I recently had cause to recommend some examples of science fiction books that had good world-building that would be useful models for another writer. The two that sprang to mind that I gave the writer, it turned out, were both by female writers (although another non-fiction book I suggested was by a male writer). Part of my onboarding t…

A quick Google search indicates that 51% of the writers in the US are women. There is no discrimination there.

Not in numbers of writers that are women, at least. There can be plenty of other ways discrimination plays out.

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#15

Post by defrost »

hi-v-rocknroll wrote: post #12
breck wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think that the 45 years of life leading up to my first publication were a big part of what made me able to write something worth publishing. "Before you can write the book, you have to be the book."

The greatest concentration of interesting folks are the elderly on the fringes of society. If a writer ever wanted to find an ideal biography subject if they weren't the book, there is a demographic of sane, elderly, rough sleepers on each coast of America who have experienced more than the average person can possibly imagine.

The lead actor of Charlie's Country has an extensive biography that goes broader and deeper than many might expect. Just the Dennis Hopper stories alone make a tale worth telling.

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#16

Post by soperj »

dhosek wrote: post #2

I was 45 when I had my first fiction published and I’ve published at least one story a year since then (although there have been years that it’s felt like I just barely met that goal). I think my MFA thesis advisor assigned Fitzgerald to me as a role model of a late-in-life writer (it’s amusing to think of my then-45-year-old self as “old” a decade later). But like Fitzgerald, it’s not like I wasn’t writing before. I…

What did you do before fiction? Is it worth it monetarily? or did you have to change a lot of things to pursue the dream?

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#17

Post by hi-v-rocknroll »

defrost wrote: post #15
hi-v-rocknroll wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The greatest concentration of interesting folks are the elderly on the fringes of society. If a writer ever wanted to find an ideal biography subject if they weren't the book, there is a demographic of sane, elderly, rough sleepers on each coast of America who have experienced more than the average person can possibly imagine.

The lead actor of Charlie's Country has an extensive biography that goes broader and deeper than many might expect. Just the Dennis Hopper stories alone make a tale worth telling.

Nice. I think I've heard of that title.

I've met a few gems amongst a cavalcade of colorful characters who perhaps could be captured fairly between pen and paper to record an echo of human splendor that should live beyond time.

- A paranoid but happy and cynical gentleman with long, scraggly hair like a wizard from the Appalachias who was a military aircraft electrician and an Apple rework tech. Stories spanning every feeling with hilarious exaggerations for emphasis.

- A former writer at big name NY newspaper, ex-hippie, and crab fisherman who had quite the life of drugs, women, and was part of it. Body might be shot, but a mind sharper than people who are 30 now without hyperbole. Knows where, when, and who of the cool spots of then and now.

- You'd swear he was dangerous or black Santa Claus. Nope, sweetest and coolest guy in the world. Picking cotton, keeping out of trouble during times that were turbulent, elevator repair, and teaching.

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#18

Post by defrost »

hi-v-rocknroll wrote: post #17
defrost wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lead actor of Charlie's Country has an extensive biography that goes broader and deeper than many might expect. Just the Dennis Hopper stories alone make a tale worth telling.

Nice. I think I've heard of that title. I've met a few gems amongst a cavalcade of colorful characters who perhaps could be captured fairly between pen and paper to record an echo of human splendor that should live beyond time. - A paranoid but happy and cynical gentleman with long, scraggly hair like a wizard from the Appalachias who was a military aircraft electrician and an Apple rework tech. Stories spanning ever…

It's a great little film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRJpcc5kDTg

starring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gulpilil

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#19

Post by dash2 »

Penelope Fitzgerald is a great writer. I've read The Blue Flower, Offshore and The Bookshop. The first two are superb. The Blue Flower is set in Jena in the 18th century - a place which was as culturally influential as Palo Alto today. It goes well with Magnificent Rebels, the fun gossipy history of the German romantics who hung out there.

Re: How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist

#20

Post by soneca »

dhosek wrote: post #4
HenryOliver87 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's interesting about PF, of course, is that she just didn't do very much writing earlier on. Glad to hear you have made some progress!

But she did. From the article: > The other answer given is that she wasn’t, in fact, such a late starter. Critics point to her childhood stories, anonymous reviews for the Times Literary Supplement, her probable contributions to Desmond’s history of the Irish Guards, and the literary magazine she and Desmond ran together when the children were little. There were also four short stories she wrote earlier in life: two…

I wouldn’t consider that much writing over 30 years (from 15 to 45 yo). Fiction as just 4 short stories, being 2 as a child.

I’d would say that’s very little writing before your first novel.

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