Sylvia Vetta's Blog

More on identity! Thank you Kwame Anthony Appiah
Do you know how it feels to read thoughts that echo your own? I’ve just read Kwame Anthony Appiah’s The Lies that Bind. My second novel Sculpting the Elephant explores identity and crossing cultures. In Oxford we have the world’s first public museum in the Ashmolean. Before the 2009 rebuild all the departments were little boxes but after the refit the collections were arranged as reflects the best of humanity – ‘Crossing cultures crossing time.’

Kwame writes that Matsuo Basho the magnificent Haiku master was shaped by Buddhism so an Indian – Gautama the Buddha is part of his heritage. He gives many more examples. Like me he understands the causes of the resentment that leads to accusations of ‘cultural appropriation’ . The cause is usually disrespect compounded by power and discrimination . But Kwame also believes that cultural appropriation is the WRONG diagnosis.

I have been in discussion with some British Chinese actors who have felt excluded and become hurt and angry when they see a part for a Chinese character that one of them should have had. What is really needed is equal opportunity and colour blind casting. I was delighted to see Sandra Oh cast as Eve in Killing Eve a role not determined by any stereo types.The problem with the idea of ‘cultural appropriation’ is that it defines us within boundaries and keeps us in little boxes instead of sharing the best of our ‘cultures’.

Because I am English and practice yoga I don’t believe I am guilty of cultural appropriation – I’m celebrating a practice yes that comes out of India but that can benefit the world. Similarly I wrote Brushstrokes in Time because I believe the Stars artists were an inspiration and that SOMEONE should tell their story even if the only someone to do it is not Chinese.
I celebrate the Welcome Trust for not patenting the genome but setting it free for the whole world . That is how we should think.

Readers of my personal story in the Madras Courier know that in 1969 I told a Daily Mail reporter that I did not marry an Indian, I married Atam. So how wonderful is it to hear Zadie Smith on Book of the Week say that her father married Yvonne and not an Afro Caribbean. That is what I believe in. We should react to each other as individuals. I hope my second novel ‘Sculpting the Elephant will also breakdown stereotypes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b4...
https://madrascourier.com/opinion/on-...

The Colin Dexter Memorial was Oxtopian !
http://www.sylviavetta.co.uk/2018/04/...

It feels like the end of an era! Val McDermid and Philip Pullman spoke at the Town Hall yesterday after the remembrance in Christ Church Cathedral . A lot of his fellow Oxtopian castaway who I have had the privilege to interview were there.
The celebration of Colin's life was orchestrated by a fellow crossword compiler and fellow castaway Don Manley.

Clue: Colin's on the right side!

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/157...

In Oxford between now and April 2018 do go to see Qu Leilei A Chinese Artist in Britain at the Ashmolean. Without Qu Leilei's stories I could not have written Brushstrokes in Time. It is not his story fictionalised but his description of his life in China 1965-1980 made me feel what it was like. The rest was down to my imagination and research In this review of Brushstrokes in Time you get a feel for the courage of the Stars artists..http://madrascourier.com/books-and-fi...

Oxford is a bit like Camelot to many Chinese people. I was approached by a PhD student, Ling Tang from Hong Kong to ask if she could translate the Oxford Castaway Series for her Weibo blog. Weibo is the Chinese facebook but has additional functions. You can use your account like a debit card! She has so far translated the story of Chris Patten , the last governor of Hong Kong and Dr Maria Jaschok who is Director of International Gender Studies at Oxford. I would take a bet that her life story will come as a surprise to anyone of you who take a look at it. If you don't want to buy Oxford Castaway books you can find the original magazine version ( a bit shorter) on a blog on my website
http://www.sylviavetta.co.uk

Last night I went to a talk about ‘Architecture and the Medieval Mind’ in the Old Library at St Mary’s University Church. This beautiful room was the first library in Oxford - earlier than the Bodleian. Now it is used for events and recitals but it has a wonderful view of its world famous successor. I’ll be talking about the importance of life story telling at an event for Sobell House in the Vaults below on Tuesday July 4 ( tea from 5.30pm)

It’s not often that I post a book to Highclere Castle alias Downton Abbey. For the castaway series I have interviewed people in some wonderful settings but Highclere Castle was probably the grandest. Fiona (Lady) Carnarvon told me she is an avid reader and always has a pile of books by her bed. As a writer it was an opportunity too good to miss: the thought of my books in the ‘Downton’ library. I have just posted a copy of Oxford Castaway 3 which includes Lady Fiona's story but also enclosed a copy of my novel Brushstrokes in Time. I wonder if she’ll read it.

Has anyone else come up with the problem of so called ‘cultural appropriation? When I finished Brushstrokes in Time and approached agents, those that read it praised it saying it was publishable but their concern was that I was ‘not Chinese!’

I found a brave new publishing company Claret Press who took me on. Brushstrokes in Time was published a year ago. When it gets to Chinese readers they love it and react positively and emotionally to it. A high proportion of the 95 reviews in newspapers, magazines and on online and blogging sites praise Brushstrokes in Time’s authenticity .

If you are only allowed to write from your own personal experience then what is the point of imagination? In those circumstances how can a man write about a woman and a woman write about a man or Hilary Mantel write about Thomas Cromwell. After all the past is another country