Negative Capability

by Michèle Roberts

Following a series of devastating rejections, Michèle Roberts began keeping an account of her life in the hope it might help mend her shattered sense of self. In this intimate and wryly honest journal she reflects on cities and countryside, loss and love, food, friendships, sisterhood, pleasure and memories, her abiding relationship with France and with literature. Over the course of a year a new pattern of being develops, until, finally, she finds a better relationship between inner and outer worlds.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Writing

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2020

About the author

Michèle Brigitte Roberts is the author of fifteen novels, including Ignorance which was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction and Daughters of the House which won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her memoir Paper Houses was BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in June 2007. She has also published poetry and short stories, most recently collected in Mud: Stories of Sex and Love. Half-English and half-French, Roberts lives in London and in the Mayenne, France. She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Reviews

[Lynn Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is part diary, part memoir, all celebration of the joys of love, sex, food, friends, nature and writing in the face of failure, disappointment and death. Like all of Roberts’ work, it’s beautifully, sensually written, intellectually and politically uncompromising, rich with psychoanalytical insights, particularly into mother-child relationships, and bestrides the psychological and physical landscapes of France and Britain (London).

Following the rejection of her latest novel, Roberts is left feeling the pain of failure and questioning her life and her art. She is an uncertain land professionally and creatively. She offers up the notion of ‘negative capability’ from therapy and Keats – ‘dwelling peacefully within contradictions without striving for rapidly arriving rational solutions’ – as a way to survive and thrive in this place of powerlessness.

There were moments when I struggled with some of the intellectualisations and the blatant egoism of punctuating the narrative with references to previous novels, professional successes and less credible and creditable students. That’s the point, though, the writing offers up Roberts warts and all – success and failure, grounded and peripatetic, critical and kind, alone and deeply connected to a web of friends and lovers, helpless and powerful.

I loved the ideas and the writing – and the people watching. I found it comforting, insightful and inspiring.

[KOMET · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michèle Roberts is a writer, who until reading this book, I had known about by name only - though I have one of her memoirs and a number of her novels in my library. Notwithstanding that, several weeks ago, I had heard her being interviewed on BBC Radio London (online) about "NEGATIVE CAPABILITY: A Diary of Surviving", which prompted me to buy and read it.

Roberts' confidence as a writer is considerably shaken when her latest novel has been rejected several times for publication. As a means of therapy and shoring up her sense of self, Roberts began keeping a diary. Not a diary in the usual sense with precise dates, which give the reader a firm fix on time and place. But one which reflected more -- in a quasi stream-of-consciousness fashion -- her life (both in Britain and France, where she maintained residences), friends, family, loves, food, her love for France (her mother was French and she had spent many summers as a child with her maternal grandparents in Normandy) and its literature, the pain and sorrow endured from the deaths of close friends, and memories.

On the whole, "NEGATIVE CAPABILITY" is based on a phrase first used by the poet John Keats in 1817 to "characterise the capacity of the greatest writers (particularly Shakespeare) to pursue a vision of artistic beauty even when it leads them into intellectual confusion and uncertainty, as opposed to a preference for philosophical certainty over artistic beauty." This book, in essence, encapsulates Roberts' efforts to reaffirm a rationale for her approach to writing amid changing tastes in the publishing business. I think anyone who is an aspiring writer will find much food for thought from reading this book.

While not a wholly captivating book, I'm glad to have read it because besides her writing talent, "NEGATIVE CAPABILITY" also amply shows how accomplished a cook Michèle Roberts is. Her descriptions of the various meals and treats she or some of her friends (also skilled in the culinary arts) prepared and feasted upon (in Britain and France) were at times enough to make my mouth water.

[Claire Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to spend a week with Michele Roberts on a writing retreat in the Scottish Highlands. Her stories are fantastic and Negative Capability was like meeting up with an old friend. The book centers around her publisher passing on her latest manuscript - an unbelievable thought with Michele's extensive career. I loved the writing style and was rooting for her the whole way. 4 stars

[TBHONEST · Rating 5 out of 5]

A candid, honest and unflinching look at life as a published writer. The lows of not getting a book deal and how it affects every part of your life, from how you view yourself to the friendships you have. To the highs of when it does goes well and you get published.

A fantastic read for any writer or anyone who would love to write.

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A writer friend recommended this to me. Over the last few weeks, I have had a few - three - rejections from my own publisher, in relation to new ideas, and was feeling low and somewhat bewildered by how much it affected me. I always believe that a book you are meant to read will not pass you by. When I heard that this writer's journal began following a rejection, I had to have it. Inside, I discovered my feelings of hurt, dejection and wavering self-confidence were a common reaction to a publisher's 'NO!' It is hard not to take it personally because it is hard to separate the writer, and the art, from the person.
I loved this as a writer and a middle-aged woman who enjoys good food and wine. And reading this in covid times (lockdown five), it was just wonderful to follow her on her various travels, including to her house in France. Roberts shows how to unapologetically savour our appetites for life. It may seem silly but I was mightily relieved that the book did not end with her giving up wine or going on a diet. I've never read Michele Roberts before and now want to get her memoir, 'Paper Houses' because I know I am going to miss her voice. I just wish the weather had been better for the Dublin chapter. I had no sense of where she was staying or what she could see.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a clear, frank, attractive voice. Both self-critical and self-celebratory (and occasionally wickedly sarcastic about the people she meets). I think Michele Roberts is severely underrated as a writer - her fiction is always interesting, thoughtful and experimental.

[Jane Garner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant memoir; vivid and sensory. Interesting thoughts on being a failure and finding a new way of using rejection and negative thoughts.

[Im A · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am surprised by how much I enjoyed this work, as I do not usually go for diaries or for what present themselves as 'plotless' books.

The writing was pleasant, relaxing, flowing in a way that matched the beginning of summer, and reading in parks - floaty and meandering, but not aimless.
To me, it was a feel-good book (despite the initial and some of the final parts), celebrating the small joys of life, the beauty of friendship, and their grounding, warming power. Cozy in the best way.

[Penny Haw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank, forthright and heartrending without being sentimental, I loved Michèle Roberts’ diary/memoir of navigating the aftermath of having a novel rejected. Her writing, of course, is beautiful but it’s more than that. She writes of family, friendship, feminism, love, communities, travel, publishing and food – oh, the food!

[Etta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quiet and comforting. I found the idea and practice of negative capability really helpful in these troubled times. There is escapism in her travels and self reflection and humility, vulnerability and humanity.

[Sarah Jane Stuart · Rating 1 out of 5]

So dull. If you are going to publish your diary at least have an interesting life. So mundane. Just talked about food, and France and napping. Just because you use lots of French words in your writing doesn’t make it engaging. Don’t bother reading.

[Schopflin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unexpected delight. Self-aware and intelligent diary, an insight into the life of a writer, and also this one in particular.

[Rosebud · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - gentle, amusing, very readable.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first couple of chapters but then I became bored. The language is nice but she doesn't have a very exciting year.

[Tabatha Kon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn’t finish this, which is very rare. I just found myself endlessly distracted and couldn’t engage with it. Finally gave myself permission to discard it.

[Charlie Beaumont · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so pleased that I read this book as it proved to be very thought provoking. The book is effectively a diary, one chapter for each month with the locations written about varying between places in France, including her home there, and the UK, including her home in London. Writing the diary was prompted by the painful experience of having a novel she had written (she had already had 13 published previously plus collections of short stories and of poetry) to assist her in managing the emotional turbulence that ensued. There are not many aspects of our range of feelings that she does not cover and all are explored in very interesting and seemingly very honest ways. Additionally there are many cultural references which had me reaching for Google to learn more. The reason for the title (has a link with Keats) encourages reflection by the reader as well as having the opportunity to learn from the author herself. I wholeheartedly recommend this book as there is so much to become immersed in alongside a very companionable author.

[Elsbeth Kwant]

A well-woven story of daily life of a writer. An honest description of the existential threat of a publisher not accepting a book, whilst also trying to keep hold of the fact that it is not the end of the world. Nicely done. Also a nice story of French provincial life, and the effect of growing up between cultures.
'This sense of life going on all around, somehow, inexplicably, often unbearably, while you're suffering: Auden wrote about it; I had it every time someone close to me died.'

And a cameo appearance for my favorite animal: 'Hares are elegant, shy, wild, graceful. They bound through myths.'

[John Howes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book - such a simple idea, writing a chapter about what happens on a single day each month of a year. You would think descriptions of who she met at the market and what she had for lunch would be dull, but they are not. Her sometimes outspoken views are a delight and her observations of different characters are fascinating. If you love France, you will enjoy her description of spending part of the year there. She also has a deep affection for London, especially the Elephant and Castle. I ended up wanting to read more of her memoirs.

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

A frank account of living through times of let-down, depression, and grief. This spirited author serves as a model for "just getting on with it" mostly without giving in. How to edit her novel to get it published, how to get by on little money, or how to simply go on when a friend dies, are subjects that she encounters during this year. Sometimes the answers are friends, reading and art!

[Wendy Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I really liked this... at times I asked myself "What am I reading here??". Boh.... Part memoir, part ramble, part diary... I glazed over slightly whenever she delved into the concept of negative capability, but Roberts is just great company as a narrator and her descriptions of her life in France are gently propulsive & lovely.